Generated for NaNoGenMo 2018, from a script by Kevan Davis.
A cold railway carriage. It is raining outside. Jan is counting out money. Karen is leafing through a letter. Carla is sipping beer.
Jan: [persuasively] Is this the first time you have been at sea?
Carla: This is the tenth time you have disobeyed me.
Jan: I must be back in London the day after to-morrow. We will leave that till the day after to-morrow.
Carla: The English is in Europe, the language of well bred people.
Jan: That is too much, half will be enough. A mark is one shilling, English money.
Karen: [abruptly] This you will always find, when you go to a foreign country.
Carla: We intend to go to London next week.
Karen: They intend to go abroad. Like you I am accustomed to the English.
[Jan glares at Carla]
Carla: They speak to me, as well as to you and to them.
[Karen walks to the edge of the stage]
Jan: One goes slower on the Dutch railways than on the English.
Karen: [pouring some beer] Are there railways only on this island?
Jan: He is going to Germany.
Karen: He is going to fight.
Jan: [gloatingly] It is beginning to rain.
Karen: There is still something to add. The picture is behind the door.
Jan: [pouring some beer] There is nothing more beautiful! There is nothing in it.
Karen: The postage to England is 30 Shillings (9 d.) for a single letter.
Jan: The moon is in the first quarter. I go in the first cabin.
[a train pulls up]
Carla: In England the beer is excellent. [mildly] I drink it without sugar.
A dimly-lit cafe. Carla is writing a letter. Quinn stands at the door.
Quinn: Who is the owner of that farm below, the greater part of which is on grazing?
Carla: She does herself a great deal of harm. [pause] I will show you his house.
Quinn: Take care, captain, or you will soon have us stuck in the slob.
[Nina enters]
Carla: I will soon answer your letter. Tell me which of those ladies pleases you most.
Quinn: He used to spend the greater part of his time in the public-house. They should occupy the greater part of the time with conversation.
Carla: [waggishly] He can do a great deal in the business in question.
Quinn: Because a great deal of trouble must be taken with it before 'tis spun. There is great credit due to the musician who trained them.
Carla: I assure you there is a great deal of pleasure in teaching attentive scholars. [pause] It is very far from here.
Quinn: I dare say there is a net of some kind in that place.
Carla: There is a fine tone of colour in that picture.
Quinn: He used to spend the greater part of his time in the public-house.
[Carla exits]
Nina: The teeth and the tongue are inside the mouth. We accept these bills but refuse the others.
[Quinn exits]
A dark hotel room. A fire burns. Antoine and Otto are sitting at a table.
Otto: The peasants who live in the Black Forest are strong and tall, and have strongly-marked features.
Antoine: There was no fire in the kitchen, but there were lots of people there.
Otto: However, in the town there are larger hotels and more of them. But if it crows by broad daylight, then take notice, for there will certainly be a change of weather.
Antoine: When I came home, my husband asked me if it was really I.
Otto: [sitting down at at the table] He would lose his head, I fancy, if it were not fast on. The man whom we saw at the station yesterday was a German. [pause] The poor old soldier whom we saw in the park yesterday was sent to me this morning by Dr. Brown, who is very anxious that some occupation he found for him.
Antoine: Piron was a French poet, who lived in the eighteenth century.
Otto: The houses were being built in the 15th century.
[Otto exits]
A quiet churchyard. It is raining. A bell rings. Marie is watching a clock. Isabella is leafing through a book. Elias is sorting money.
Isabella: That report has proved false. That is more than probable.
Marie: The striking hammers made the building tremble. The florist from whom I have received these flowers.
Isabella: That is hardly probable.
Marie: It is nearly three o'clock.
Isabella: It is only ten o'clock. It is one o'clock.
Marie: It is folly to grieve at the success of other people.
Isabella: She is in the flower of her youth.
Marie: [putting down a hammer] The brother and the sister love each other. They have injured each other. [turning to Elias] They have pleased each other.
Elias: [perkily] We would already have been there but it was impossible.
Marie: [looking at the clock] We would have been. I should have been.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] I am of opinion that you should go there.
Marie: [picking up a hammer] Brothers and sisters should love one another. No daughter of mine shall be an actress. [pause] My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
Isabella: I should like to see the books you have just received.
Marie: You shall have been. He shall have been.
Isabella: Do they think we shall have peace? I much regret I do not.
Marie: [rhythmically] They shall have been. One shall have been.
Isabella: We shall have snow. We shall have a storm. [pause] We shall have a fine day.
Marie: He called on his teacher in order to obtain his pardon. He spends his time in drinking, eating, and gambling.
Isabella: Be good enough to bring me some envelopes, ink, pens and sealing-wax. Does she understand what we say?
Marie: No son of mine shall become an actor.
Isabella: [pathetically] I shall buy some chickens. I shall soon be ten.
[Quinn enters]
Marie: You shall have been.
Elias: I shall be heard.
Marie: You had been.
Elias: I have been heard.
Isabella: They should have been subdued.
Elias: The child had the king's evil.
Isabella: The rain has laid the dust a little. The weather is unsettled.
Quinn: That brings to my mind the story of the cat that was fishing on the dry strand.
Elias: [humorlessly] What is the name of that pretty church on the right? [turning to Isabella] I can not approve of what he said.
Isabella: Towards the middle of the month.
Elias: The girl took her money.
[everybody turns to look at Elias]
Isabella: I like this colour pretty well. Do you require any stamps?
Elias: No I thank you. I understand you.
Quinn: I understand the whole story now. and certainly it is a sorry story.
Elias: Did you understand the man?
Isabella: Yes, Sir, to change the horses. Yes, but I do not like the smell.
Elias: Ring the bell, if you please.
Isabella: Waiter, the bill of fare, please. Waiter, the bill.
Quinn: [happily] We are at the field now, and what a gathering.
A dimly-lit ship at harbour. A boat is waiting. It is night. A horse stands downstage. Bjørn is eating a piece of pork. Marie is writing a letter.
Bjørn: I beg you to accept my best thanks for the permission you have given me to shoot on your estate, and which you have so kindly communicated to me by your letter of today.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's. The florist from whom I have received these flowers.
Bjørn: [eating some pork] The little boy is my nephew, and the little girl is my niece.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his.
Bjørn: The price of pork is frequently higher than that of venison. I shall be.
Marie: At the price of his honor he has capitulated.
Bjørn: Is that the lowest price you could let me have it at? On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings.
Marie: The letters which I have written.
Bjørn: The best water is that which has neither taste nor smell.
Marie: The books which you have lent me.
[Bjørn walks to the edge of the stage]
Bjørn: To what may I help you? That man goes seldom to church.
Marie: I know not of what you think. I have not spoken to them.
Bjørn: We cannot let you go out sucn a night as this.
Marie: He went to such a city.
Bjørn: [patiently] Rome was not built in a day. The washerwoman has not sent home my drawers.
Marie: Not a man, not a woman has come to see me. All the earth.
Bjørn: [adding some twigs to the fire] Up to what time can one post letters which are to go by the evening mail?
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Bjørn: The price of pork is frequently higher than that of venison. On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings.
[Karen enters]
Marie: It is folly to grieve at the success of other people.
Karen: It is on "Kongens Nytorv" at the corner of Newhaven.
Marie: Which one is the least difficult of your lessons?
Karen: The calf of the leg is different from a dogs-ear.
Marie: The flowers which she has given me. The books which you have lent me.
Karen: And besides I will give you a good character for attention.
Marie: Brothers and sisters should love one another.
[Elias enters]
Karen: Sir, and I will try to prove you my remark. Indeed, I don't know how to solve your riddles.
Marie: Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable. They have told each other some hard truths. [turning to Elias] They have pleased each other.
Elias: Come nearer; I have something to tell you. They are waiting for you. [pause] The printer was with him yesterday.
Bjørn: I think so, they will be in our way in the theater.
Elias: He took a rope with him in the boat.
[Elias exits]
Bjørn: They will find the boy.
[Isabella enters]
Marie: They will have spoken. One would have spoken. [reflectively] He would have spoken.
Bjørn: There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year. To what may I help you?
Marie: At his house.
Isabella: [sonorously] It is night. It is moonlight.
Marie: It is a man such as you want. The ladies whom he has known.
Isabella: [inaudibly] It is as tender as a chicken.
Marie: I was loved, was being loved. I was speaking. Thou wast speaking.
[Isabella approaches Bjørn]
Isabella: I was in hopes you would have given me checkmate.
Marie: Brothers and sisters should love one another. I speak not.
Isabella: You cannot castle after having moved your king.
[Antoine enters]
Marie: At home in one's house. Let some one be. He went to such a city.
Isabella: [engagingly] I think you very fortunate in having found such a splendid house. I do not like such complicated watches. [pause] I do not know the game well.
Marie: Which one of your daughters is the eldest?
Karen: I wonder, if those girls are the "Amagerpiger".
Marie: The brother and the sister love each other.
Karen: The noise of the lion. The darkness of the death. [turning to Isabella] The lameness of the lamb.
Isabella: [snidely] We don't know the value of health till we have lost it.
Marie: At the price of his honor he has capitulated.
Bjørn: Put this poor fellow out into the street!
Marie: At home in one's house. Children obeying their teachers are praised.
Bjørn: Which of your teachers has gone away?
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Karen: Ah, perhaps you don't know where to find the church.
Marie: From five o'clock till six.
Karen: The thief's luck. The children's need.
Bjørn: We get very good beef at our butcher's. I couldn't possibly do it for less.
Marie: [indiscreetly] My friend and my brother's. My wife and my neighbor's. [turning to Antoine] One deceives one's self.
Antoine: I can't keep from telling you that I have succeeded in avenging myself.
Marie: The florist from whom I have received these flowers. Mr. Such-a-one.
Karen: How far away from Copenhagen is the island? We intend to stay for some months at the sea-side in Denmark.
Marie: No daughter of mine shall be an actress. Every man ought to do his duty.
Karen: He may be able to tell you every thing you wish to know better than I. I shall be happy to give you every information as far as I am able to do so. [cautiously] Some of the best you will find in Mr. Bing's establishment, nearly opposite to Mr. Steen.
Marie: The mother holds her child in her arms. The brother and the sister love each other.
Karen: Still there is one street well situated, I know, along the Rosenborg garden. There is still something to add.
Bjørn: Take all these pins out of the paper, and stick them into the pincushion.
[Antoine exits]
Karen: The father was a rich man and in an important situation. Do you know the names of some of them?
Bjørn: No, sir; we sell books and stationery.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his.
Isabella: This coat is out of fashion.
Marie: [lighting a candle] I have not spoken of it.
Isabella: You have not seen my sweet peas.
[Elias enters]
Marie: I have seen but one person.
Isabella: I have seen a fine turbot. I had never seen any before.
Bjørn: Having seen him, I went to his father. Having seen him, I will go to his father and tell him he is here.
Elias: He is a man who has seen the world.
Bjørn: Have you seen the bird. He has not seen you.
[Bjørn exits]
Elias: Have you been there? I may have been heard.
Marie: Have I spoken to him.
Elias: Have you anything?
Marie: [owlishly] Have I not it? This one is yours and that one is his.
[Marie exits]
Elias: I thank you for your visit. I shall thank you for a little more milk. [pouring some milk] I will trouble you for a little beef.
Karen: If you take a walk, you will be there in a quarter of an hour. I hope, you also will agree with me in this.
[Karen glares at Isabella]
Elias: [poking the fire] What will you take with your meat?
Karen: I have taken my dinner. Have they my money?
Elias: Yes, the hotel X. She sold the horse.
Karen: Well, then you will never be unhorsed.
Isabella: Well, then, let us go. It must be lighted again.
[Karen exits]
Elias: I gave the book to the most beloved friend. [pause] Am I right?
Isabella: You are right.
Elias: I am right. I am going home.
[Nina enters]
Isabella: I am going home to dinner. I am going to bed. I am going to get up directly.
Elias: My eldest daughter is younger than his youngest son.
Isabella: That painter draws better than he colours. That painter succeeds better in portrait than in historical painting.
Elias: We sat all Sunday afternoon with the book in our hands.
Isabella: The game is not worth the candle.
Elias: The chief is not with us. The king was with him.
[Isabella exits]
Nina: That is not the right way to do it.
Elias: The men set the house on fire. They ascended the mountain.
An untidy campsite. A fire burns. Otto is adjusting his coat. Isabella enters.
Isabella: It is too short. That diamond has a beautiful lustre.
Otto: I wish some one would shoot that ugly beast! I wish you would write the letter before going down town.
Isabella: [persuasively] I do not like them so short.
Otto: [adding a log to the fire] I don't like such cats.
Isabella: Do you want it very short?
Otto: I am very sorry.
Isabella: [adding a log to the fire] I am very sorry for it.
Otto: I am sorry, but he is not. I have bought a new coat. [pause] He told me that he had bought a new coat.
[Otto adds a log to the fire]
Isabella: [nastily] You have not taken care of the fire.
[Isabella exits]
A gloomy campfire. A fire burns. A dog barks. It is night. Isabella and Frieda walk together.
Frieda: [sweetly] The children came riding upon donkeys.
[Otto enters]
Isabella: [scornfully] I came from your father's.
Frieda: They are my brothers.
Isabella: These are my things. Do you object to my opening the window?
Otto: Hearing the news, he became very excited.
Isabella: You came rather unexpectedly. I only came down to know how you were. I will only take it on those terms.
Otto: He came home last night. Come and sup with me to-night. [to Frieda] But yesterday morning, when I went to church with mother, I wore it, and when we came home it was gone.
[Karen enters]
Frieda: They came out of the house with their dogs and went to the playground. [sharply] A dove flies on to the roof of a house.
Isabella: I came from your father's. I am coming from your house.
Karen: [adding a log to the fire] Will you promise me to keep on terms with my brother as in former days?
Otto: You will he surprised to hear that your cousin has gone to Germany. No kindhearted man can bear to see a child suffering from hunger and cold, so I brought him into the warm kitchen at once and, setting him before the fire to warm himself, I ordered the servant to get him food.
Karen: Pray, tell us first, if the inhabitants really retain the ancient costume as worn by their Friesland forefathers, and if they maintain the same high reputation for industry as the first colonists.
Isabella: Will you please tell me if there are any letters for me from Paris?
Karen: I have been told, that books are lent out on application. Of this I have already been convinced since my arrival in Denmark.
A smoky theatre bar. Leaves blow past the window. It is night. Elias is watching the clock. Jan is sipping soup.
Jan: This room does not please me, it is too dark. His countenance does not please me.
Elias: The darkness increased.
Jan: The actors are good. The costumes are very rich.
Elias: [peaceably] The wind is very high.
Jan: The roast meat is very good.
Elias: This meat is very tough.
Jan: [eating some soup] That is a very short time. That is a great age. It gives me great pain.
Elias: I am very happy to see you well. I am very hungry.
Jan: You are very welcome, but you must take what you find. [pause] You would oblige me.
Elias: They were very kind to the child.
[Jan approaches Elias]
Jan: You are very kind. At what time does the theatre begin?
Elias: He would be very happy if he were content.
Jan: You have a very pure accent.
Elias: It is very hot. It is one o'clock. [pause] It is very cloudy.
Jan: This soup looks very good, it tastes very nice.
Elias: She is not up to her sister in French. [pause] I will stay longer another time.
Jan: I am very much pleased with my journey. [abruptly] We are approaching autumn.
A quiet harbour. A boat is waiting. A fire burns. Quinn and Jan stand together.
Quinn: I dare say he was depending on sickles or the scythe to cut the barley. I dare say it was a "keening" woman that composed that pretty poem.
Jan: We are only waiting for those gentlemen who are going with us.
Quinn: [evenhandedly] Are not those fine, vigorous men who are in the boat next to us?
Jan: With the best will in the world I cannot do it.
Quinn: It is often I think of the bees and the work they do.
[Jan crosses the stage]
Jan: It is very cold for this time of the year.
Quinn: There are three things very difficult to understand : the mind of a woman, the work of the bees, and the flow and ebb of the tide.
[Nina enters]
Nina: Put it in very hot water or very cold water, rub and bind tightly. Put them in a paper bag and burn them.
[Jan crosses the stage]
Quinn: [disgustingly] Nearly all the plants arc ruined by them.
Nina: [disjointedly] Perhaps they could, if you asked them. Which shovel do you like?
Quinn: [cryptically] What a pity to have those gags on them. And see the beautiful white-thorn.
Nina: Why don't you have the doctor see him?
[Antoine enters]
Antoine: [adding some twigs to the fire] They have washed themselves. I shall send them there.
Nina: Where does your married daughter live? In many buildings there are not enough exits in case of fire. [pause] You must not be careless in such a case as this.
Antoine: The father and his daughters are tall.
Nina: The father loves his daughters. There are as many boys as girls.
Antoine: The lawyer's daughter, who is here, is ill. This little girl is six years old.
Nina: If you learn English, it will be of great help to you in this country.
Antoine: [adding some twigs to the fire] Yes, but I had heard it told so often that I didn't laugh at it this time. [turning to Quinn] What a man!
A sparsely-furnished tavern. Smoke is in the air. It is night. Dominik is sorting money. Carla is holding a book. Bjørn stands at the door.
Dominik: That is not amiss.
Carla: It is not late. This horse is as quiet as a lamb.
Dominik: His estate extends as far as that place.
[birds fly past]
Bjørn: In its wild state it is a bird of passage.
Dominik: There is nothing to be abated, it is all money laid oat.
Bjørn: There is not a star to be seen.
Dominik: There is no card wanting. There is a charming dancer. There is no money stirring.
Bjørn: There is no harm done.
Dominik: There is nobody. An estate encumbered with mortgages.
Bjørn: [courteously] The pigeon has long been domesticated with us.
Dominik: [lightly] There is nothing but cold meat in the house. There is no salt in it. [to Carla] There is nothing to guess.
Carla: There is something graceful in this picture. [pause] It is I personally.
Dominik: He is a stranger in his own country.
Bjørn: [polishing a coin] There was no asparagus in the market. [eating some meat] What do you call note-paper?
Carla: There is great pleasure in silencing great talkers. There is something displeasing in his address.
Bjørn: There's a knock at the door. He fears no danger, but he never attacks man unless driven to it by hunger.
Carla: There is nothing solid in that book. It is dark.
Bjørn: The lining of your bonnet is very pretty.
[Bjørn exits]
Carla: There is nothing impossible in it. There is no talk of any thing.
Dominik: Here is the tobacco pouch, and there are some kindlers to light with. There is enough oil, but too much vinegar in it.
Carla: [irately] He is not as rich as he is said to be.
Dominik: [reverently] There is nothing but cold meat in the house. He is forbidden to keep company with these people.
[Dominik exits]
A deserted lighthouse. It is night. Quinn is digging a hole. Nina is watching the clock.
Nina: The conditions you have put forth are altogether unacceptable.
Quinn: His horse and driver met with a terrible accident the other day. Wasn't that the night that the accident occurred to Paddy, Tim, on his way home with his pannier full of fish on his back?
Nina: They are too remiss with their payments to be such important people.
Quinn: They have got the ball into the goal now.
Nina: They placed all their trust in their agent.
Quinn: The oars are all in the boat. It is cut with a turf-spade.
Nina: The roses and violets are in the flower-stand.
Quinn: [eating some bread] The threshers and winnowers are quite satisfied with the ordinary food. I don't think I ever saw the fuchsia or privet so abundant anywhere as they are here.
Nina: They are too remiss with their payments to be such important people.
[a horse whinnies]
Quinn: You are the most mischievous girl that can be found. The count is even on both sides — three goals and a point. How quickly the potatoes are growing on the other side of the fence.
Nina: The commission-agent went by the three o'clock train.
[Frieda enters]
Quinn: [eating some bread] Four men will come with us — Bill Fluke and three others. [pause] I have often heard about that Hall.
Nina: Give him notice of the sales you effected on his account. The Directors are preparing a balance sheet to be laid before the company at the next ordinary general meeting.
[Quinn crosses the stage]
Quinn: [looking at the clock] But there were two or three from whom I expected better things.
Nina: We received this year three cargoes of bananas from the Canary Islands.
Frieda: There were once three kings.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
Frieda: The mother called her daughters to her.
[Marie enters]
Marie: I have lost about three hundred dollars.
Frieda: Much can be said about the boy and the robber. Have you the bread and the water?
Marie: No daughter of mine shall be an actress. [pause] We deceive ourselves.
Nina: This defect will be made right in future deliveries.
[Quinn exits]
A sunless harbour. A boat is waiting. It is night. A dog barks. Quinn is removing his coat. Nina and Guiseppe are across the stage.
Guiseppe: He had fixed on that sort of diversion.
Quinn: We are at the field now, and what a gathering.
Guiseppe: I cannot pay others, if I am not paid what is due to me.
[Guiseppe exits]
Quinn: Stop a moment, I see you have got an earwig and ants on your coat. We kept catching them late into the night until the the boat was almost full as far as the top plank.
Nina: Our friends have large stocks but they say the market is looking up. I may accept your price, provided you pay cash.
Quinn: I dare say they will be soon threshing the corn in that farm. Who is the owner of that farm below, the greater part of which is on grazing?
Nina: I wonder if this is the engineer whose son is a lawyer.
Quinn: I wonder is the gate locked? [softly] I see Tim Crowley is not yet cutting his hay.
Nina: You are wrong, it is the right article.
Quinn: I remember it distinctly.
Nina: The term you have set me is too short.
Quinn: The football teams are very good, but you seem to be tired. The stalks are withered in that garden north, but I suppose it is time for them. [pause] It is a bad wind that does not blow good to somebody.
Nina: Some say the market will go up, some say it will go down, and such is the position that one does not know what to do. The bill market was very firm to-day but there was little doing.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Quinn: Everyone knows the elder, and it is a pity that everyone does not also understand the cures that are in it.
[a cat miaows]
Nina: What does the Englishman buy? If any weigh in excess, it does not matter.
Quinn: [unlocking a door] Indeed it does not.
Nina: I write letters. Who writes a letter?
Quinn: I don't think he will, but if he does it will tax him to the utmost. It is a bad wind that does not blow good to somebody.
Nina: He says that he will not give it to me until you tell him to do so. I very much question the advisability of putting prices up at the present moment when so many adverse circumstances have to be taken into consideration.
Quinn: There's not a boat on the sea that cares less for a storm than she does.
Nina: There had not been such large quantities offered for a long time.
Quinn: We shall be in the field in a quarter of an hour's time now.
Nina: The father and the mother of the captain. The father, the mother, and the brother.
Quinn: It is a bad wind that does not blow good to somebody. The day doesn't look at all well. It is not a good sign of the land, for furze does not grow in any good land.
Nina: Setting aside the fact that he is behind with his payments, he does us great harm by running down our goods.
Quinn: Even though she is breachy, she is the very best milch cow I have. Even the dogs themselves don't like to approach her.
Nina: Owing to a breakdown in the works these will not be ready for another fortnight.
Quinn: I dare say they will be drawing it into the haggart next week.
[Quinn exits]
A dilapidated office. Nina is polishing a watch. Isabella is examining some money.
Nina: A further decline in prices is anticipated.
Isabella: I have some in pod in another place.
Nina: I want some brown prints and some red calico. The great object the meeting had in view was the promotion of further progress and civilisation. The first to come was the office-boy, and he will be the last to go.
Isabella: I shall return by the steamer "Queen" which is due on the first of April. Is it then more useful to listen, and to try to understand what is said in a language, than to try to speak it one's self?
Nina: No lesson is difficult if we study with care. She used 5 lay days in loading, having therefore 3 days left, so that we do not think we shall have to pay demurrage.
Isabella: He is enjoying himself so much there that he does not speak of returning. The days are lengthening.
Nina: He is sending me to the Court that I may watch that interesting case.
Isabella: [passively] I am just going out and shall get the money at my banker's.
Nina: Please protest the bill in case of non-acceptance and then again for non-payment.
Isabella: Get me a dozen stamps of twenty-five centimos, and two foreign post-cards.
Nina: Being so young he shows a good deal of tact and foresight. We can offer you a small one for a voyage out and home. Do not be long in making up your mind one way or the other.
Isabella: Show me some of your most handsome books bound in Russian leather.
A small lighthouse. Leaves blow past the window. An ox is outside. Bjørn is slicing a piece of pork. Nina is pouring a glass of wine. Dominik is nearby.
Dominik: The storks rattle.
Bjørn: The pork is not roasted enough.
Nina: [eating some pork] Their feel is not clothy. There is no doubt about that.
[Dominik crosses the stage]
Bjørn: I feel sea-sick.
Nina: I believe she has.
Bjørn: You did not believe me.
Nina: I do not drink wine. [whispering to Dominik] The cloth was run in pieces of 20 yds. exactly, the consequence being that some pieces were found by the customer to be with cuts.
Dominik: A constant prosperity gives a greater feeling to misfortune.
Bjørn: They are supposed to live to a great age.
Dominik: The house is composed of two wings with a backhouse.
[Dominik exits]
Bjørn: The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef.
Nina: Their feel is not clothy.
Bjørn: The pork is not roasted enough.
Nina: [putting on a boot] The father has the coat.
Bjørn: They sailed along the coast. They then traveled on to another adventure.
Nina: [sedately] Take due notice of the contents of the letter.
Bjørn: Will you put on the boots or the shoes?
Nina: It is they who must indemnify us for the loss.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Bjørn: To wear tight stays must be injurious to the health. [pause] Leave that alone!
Nina: Please do not take amiss my requesting you to have them drawn up again.
Bjørn: The ass though inferior to the horse is a very useful animal.
Nina: [putting on a boot] We sent it to the manager of our Liverpool branch.
[Guiseppe enters]
Bjørn: In Vienna the price of venison is very reasonable.
Nina: We accept these bills but refuse the others.
[Marie enters]
Bjørn: They will find the boy.
Nina: The old man and the old woman.
Guiseppe: The best soldiers in the world are sometimes conquered. It is the finest weather in the world.
Marie: The gentleman who entered first was my father.
Bjørn: That old man has lost his son. They will find the house.
Guiseppe: I ask you if you will do me a favour.
Bjørn: I will trouble you for a little beef.
Guiseppe: Thou art too troublesome to my friends.
Bjørn: It is impossible for me to fulfill your wishes. It is impossible.
[Nina enters]
Marie: It is folly to grieve at the success of other people.
Bjørn: [pompously] It is a long time since we saw each other. It is a head wind.
Guiseppe: I have seven brothers and two sisters alive.
Nina: I have seen the house.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
[Guiseppe walks to the back of the stage]
Nina: [saucily] The boys have gone. My sister has gone.
Guiseppe: Their brother and sister are industrious. My brother and sister are gone into the country.
Nina: [putting on a boot] There is as much happiness as unhappiness in the world. [pause] This baby should have a bath every morning before his breakfast.
Guiseppe: Of these two rivers, one has its spring in the Alps, and the other in the Pyrenees.
Nina: He needs meat once a day, and plenty of stewed fruit and fresh vegetables.
Guiseppe: Yes, sir, I met with his uncle and three of his sisters. Your uncle and aunt are my dear friends.
[Nina exits]
Nina: Trusting you will be satisfied with this result, we are, yours faithfully. He is writing a letter to his mother.
Marie: The gentleman who entered first was my father.
Nina: Do not be long in making up your mind one way or the other.
Marie: They have injured each other.
Nina: They wrote to each other often.
Marie: They have told each other some hard truths.
A quiet field. It is raining. A piano plays. Carla is wearing a coat. Elias is sipping milk. Jan enters.
Elias: [pettily] This cloth was bought at Mr. B's.
Carla: [drinking some milk] This piano is out of tune. This coat is out of fashion.
Jan: He has the dialect of the South of Holland.
[Jan approaches Carla]
Carla: Do you prefer fine Holland?
Elias: No I am not. No I thank you.
Carla: [languidly] I did not know you then. You do not know your lesson.
Jan: I could not close my eyes the whole night long.
[Jan exits]
Carla: I never closed my eyes once last night. I have net been able to close my eyes once all night. I have not seen her ever since we fell out.
Elias: I have never had it, and you will not have it either. They came at night.
Carla: If they are not ready, I will set out without them. Your hands are as cold as ice.
Elias: I shall thank you for a little more milk. I saw a little lamb near the mill. The house stands near the river.
Carla: What are you going to do on the other side of the river? It rains very fast.
Elias: It is on the stroke of three.
Carla: What is the use of that? It is in the style of Rembrandt. No, it is the second.
Elias: What is the name of the steamer?
Carla: What is the name of this? What is the name of this red flower? [pause] I like the odour of the violet.
Elias: Pass the plate this way.
Carla: Let us take this path.
Elias: [pouring some milk] Let us go into the park. It is going to rain.
Carla: Let us go now into the flower garden. [pause] They will soon be over.
Elias: Let us call for your brother on our way.
Carla: Let us walk round the garden. She is gone into the country.
[Carla exits]
A deserted path. It is night. Otto is leafing through a letter. Karen and Quinn are here.
Otto: In my last letter I described the little village in which I was then staying, and the beautiful scenery around it.
[birds fly past]
Quinn: These opposite you is a little tree which is very common.
Otto: The little creature went on.
[Antoine enters]
Quinn: Those cows below are lowing. How thick the honeysuckle is on the side of this fence!
Otto: [stubbornly] You must spin this, too, in the course of this night. You must not imagine anything of the kind.
[a wolf howls]
Quinn: These cheers give them double courage.
Antoine: The king is a ridiculous man. The doors and windows are open.
[Marie enters]
Karen: The watchman is a guardian and has a weapon. And the renowned linguist is quite right.
Antoine: The former is a great poet, the latter a great novelist. The queen was eating, when she heard a great noise.
[Isabella enters]
Karen: [jeeringly] They are, and the girls are rather pretty. [turning to Otto] We wish to see the different museums, Copenhagen boasts of, and to spend there the hours in which they are open to the public.
[Karen exits]
[Isabella crosses the stage]
Otto: It is a very interesting study to compare the customs of different peoples, and also to trace the changes in customs among any one people from century to century.
Isabella: Take this letter to the Post Office, and pay the postage. There is many a slip 'twixt the cup and the lip.
Otto: No, anything living is dearer to me than all the treasures in the world.
Quinn: There is a man living there who is generally behind hand in his work.
Otto: We were driving at the rate of ten miles an hour. The boy will go in half an hour.
[Otto exits]
Quinn: We have great fun, and no one loses or wins much, for we play for only a halfpenny a game.
Marie: The flowers which she has given me.
Quinn: These opposite you is a little tree which is very common. [to Isabella] They are ploughing and harrowing at present.
[Marie exits]
Isabella: I think your garden is very well stocked. I liked it very well.
Quinn: [owlishly] I don't think I did, for it is very little recourse I have to the country.
[Quinn exits]
Isabella: You keep your garden very neat. You have made it up again very well.
Antoine: Once he was very hungry. They have washed their hands.
Isabella: The winter has been very severe this year. The apricots will be very fine this year.
Antoine: The count has found his servants sword in hand.
Isabella: I know her handwriting. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Antoine: The boys have gotten lost in the woods and have not yet found their way. This wine is diminishing, although it is in a sealed jug.
Isabella: The person who will hand you this letter is Mr. X. who lives in the same town as I.
Antoine: The bearer of the letter gives it to her.
Isabella: The fourth of the present month.
Antoine: When he found the letter, he sent it to us. When his wife died, he remained a widower two years.
Isabella: I am expecting a letter from X today, do me the favour to send to the Post Office to enquire if there are any letters for me.
Antoine: I expected to see him in Paris, but he had gone to see his father at Lyons. If Jean wanted to get the place, he ought not to have forgotten the pears.
Isabella: I was there yesterday. Is there any news to-day?
Antoine: [drinking some wine] This chicken is not so big as the one that we had yesterday. The hare is as big as the one that I killed yesterday.
[Antoine exits]
A small office. Antoine and Guiseppe sit at their desks.
Guiseppe: [sneeringly] It is not polite to interrupt any one who speaks. Did you speak Italian with them?
Antoine: I spoke to them. I make him study them.
Guiseppe: Do you remember the promise you made me yesterday?
Antoine: If I had recognized the actors, I would have accosted them. If I had possessed a garden, I would have been content.
Guiseppe: If he had given me thirty more, I should have gone to Paris to pass the summer.
[Guiseppe exits]
An undecorated bar. A dog barks. Leaves blow past the window. Jan is cleaning a glass. Bjørn is examining a piece of beef.
Bjørn: [distrustfully] What do you read?
[Nina enters]
Nina: A hat and some boots.
Jan: What do I see before us? What nonsense he talks.
Nina: [removing a boot] What a beautiful rose! This is George's beautiful garden. [pause] This is certain.
Jan: I fear the wind is against us in the Channel.
Nina: Will you put all those answered letters in that shelf.
Jan: I understand better than I speak. I prefer a glass of beer at dinner.
[Nina exits]
Bjørn: You ought to speak to him instead of writing to him. [rebukingly] You will find everything you want there.
Jan: And at 7 o'clock in the evening I leave by the train.
[Jan walks to the edge of the stage]
Bjørn: On the evening of the 29th a strong wind arose. On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings. [pause] The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef.
[Bjørn drinks some beer]
Jan: This interlude will last a good while, we will refresh ourselves with an ice.
Bjørn: The flesh of the ox is one of the foods which nature furnishes to man. The soul is sometimes called the mind, spirit, or ghost.
Jan: The pitcher goes to the well till it comes home broken at last.
Bjørn: Cats attach themselves to the house, and dogs to the person of their master. Do you keep note paper?
Jan: I am reading the newspaper. I am now reading the book.
Bjørn: I read it in the newspapers. We have heard the news. [jokingly] We have been.
Jan: I read the book on the journey. [pause] Then we must make haste.
A windswept field. A fire burns. It is night. A cow stands downstage. Antoine is shuffling a deck of cards. Quinn is digging a hole. Carla enters.
Quinn: I wonder whose is the lovely house at the bend of the road with the fine fuchsia hedge in front of it?
Antoine: I wondered who was the man with the insatiable stomach.
Carla: Do you intend to spend the winter at Boston?
Antoine: Last Monday I spent the evening at my uncle's. Send them there at once.
Quinn: I hope there won't be drinking at the threshing as there used to be. I expect there is a hive at the far side of the house.
Antoine: You ought to have told me in the first place what was the cause of the delay. When he had left the table, the chance was lost.
Quinn: I thought at that time there was no music in the world so delightful as the cry of the pack and the blast of the horn.
Antoine: There was no fire in the kitchen, but there were lots of people there. I saw him work.
Quinn: They are in the field where the cows are lying and chewing the cud.
Antoine: I am going to pass the winter there, without anybody's knowing it. There is the man with whose uncle I was walking.
[Quinn smiles at Antoine]
Quinn: The beech and the hazel, the seer's trees, are growing here beside the old lios.
Antoine: You and I are going to be questioned by the emperor.
Quinn: It's hard for me to answer that question.
Antoine: That person whose aspect is so severe is the grenadier to whom the king spoke.
Quinn: The students who are in earnest are succeeding, but those whose hearts are not in the work are not succeeding, and they do not deserve to succeed. There is a fine ploughing team at work in the northern side of the field.
Carla: What are you going to do on the other side of the river?
Quinn: The boys are waiting for us on the strand.
Antoine: [adding a log to the fire] I have been waiting for you an hour. Do you know how to play cards?
Quinn: Yes, Kitty, but I cannot shoot any of them, for they are not within range.
Carla: Do you not go to the play this evening? [pause] I do not know what to do with them.
Quinn: I was digging it in the sand early this morning.
Carla: I am a little better this morning. I was at his house this night.
Quinn: There must have been an anthill where you were sitting. I suppose it is hard to find the nest of swallows or wagtails?
Carla: Here is a fine bed of asparagus.
Antoine: Here is my son. He is a Frenchman.
A smoky hospital ward. Jan, Otto and Nina approach each other.
Jan: Wonderful!
Otto: I declare!
Jan: Are you in earnest? I beg your pardon.
Otto: Yes, if you please. Yes, indeed.
Jan: Open, if you please. Oh, you jest.
Otto: The class please stand!
Nina: The boys have gone. The girls have gone.
Otto: I will pay the boy when he brings the things. [turning to Jan] If I am to keep my health I must have fresh air.
Jan: The trees are beginning to bud, they will soon blossom.
[Nina smiles at Otto]
Nina: The streets are worse than the sidewalks.
Jan: He is as poor as a church mouse.
Nina: He is too young.
Otto: He shut the door. He said he was sick. They said they had seen your father.
Nina: Keep the child very warm until the doctor comes. I lack nothing.
Otto: [understandingly] The child stopped laughing.
Nina: This child is too young. This band is too tight.
A secluded churchyard. It is night. Guiseppe is climbing down from a wall. Carla is removing her coat.
Guiseppe: Thou wert generously rewarded. The most ingenious people are not always the most learned.
Carla: In winter, the roads are always worse than in summer. Provisions are so scarce, that the diggers are obliged to sacrifice almost all their gold to keep life and soul together.
Guiseppe: There is nothing but what a good prince ought to do, to make his subjects happy.
Carla: I see nothing that can be censured in your conduct. [pause] Get out of my sight.
Guiseppe: But there is nothing to say against the conduct of honest people.
[Antoine enters]
Carla: It is not so cold as it was at the beginning of this month.
Guiseppe: For I met him just now, and he told me he was going to his sister's house. What are the productions of it?
Carla: Pay the postage of it. I came by the stage.
Guiseppe: They thirst after nothing, they seek nothing else. It is not enough to say, I repent of my ill conduct, and of my bad life, if you do not shew the effects of your repentance by a new and better life.
Carla: Henry, did you not know it is against the rules to speak during school.
Guiseppe: In short, I think it is the finest castle in Europe. Do you think the city of Paris is finer than London?
Antoine: He was in the best humor in the world.
Guiseppe: It is the finest weather in the world.
Antoine: Gascons are the biggest liars in the world, they-say.
[a wolf howls]
Guiseppe: [vindictively] The best soldiers in the world are sometimes conquered. The walls are inlaid with marble.
Antoine: They noticed the soldier in the room for the fifth time.
Guiseppe: Who subdued the greatest part of the world in twelve years time?
Antoine: I had been there a long time, when he arrived.
Guiseppe: I had rather live all my life-time with you, than stay one day with your brother.
Antoine: At the end of a certain time, they gave up the project. The lawyer's daughter, who is here, is ill.
Carla: It is almost time to go to bed.
Antoine: She had already gone to bed. She has gone to get the doctor. [pause] Why doesn't he go get the surgeon?
Guiseppe: God speaks to sinners sometimes most gently, that he may draw them to obedience. You eat as if you were not hungry.
Antoine: [undramatically] It is important that you eat at the usual time.
[Guiseppe crosses the stage]
Guiseppe: At what a price would I not purchase the time past!
Antoine: [waggishly] Thank-you a thousand times! Half the time.
[Carla smiles at Guiseppe]
Carla: I think another time I shall take it.
Antoine: [intrepidly] It has been a long time that he has been here.
Carla: It is a long time since we have seen him. Remember me kindly to her.
Guiseppe: It is the finest weather in the world.
[Antoine exits]
Carla: He acquainted nobody in the world with his project. I have so much to do.
Guiseppe: I believe it will not be fine weather, for it is very dark to-night.
Carla: This great man will ever be the glory of his country.
Guiseppe: Europe, in relation to the other parts of the world, lies northward. A scholar who obtains his master's favour is more happy than he who is idle, who loses his honour, wastes his time, and continues a blockhead, though play be pleasant to him for a little while.
Carla: Figure to yourself the doctor in the middle of a ball-room. Take this coat to the tailor's.
Guiseppe: He who is not mindful of his own business, cannot be mindful of other people's. [pause] If we would love God as much as He loves us, we should not offend him so often.
Carla: [understandingly] The English is in Europe, the language of well bred people.
Guiseppe: Adoration is due to God, the King of all the world.
[Carla walks to the back of the stage]
Carla: Is your mother in the country? I, who have not a friend in the world!
Guiseppe: My brother and sister are gone into the country. [wisely] No, it is not so large, nor so well built as London.
Carla: Six of us are going into the country, will you join us?
Guiseppe: My brother is gone into the country for a month. My mother is gone over to France for her health.
Carla: She had promised to take me into the country this evening.
[Carla exits]
A gloomy hotel lobby. It is night. Isabella is writing a letter. Jan stands in front of a window.
Jan: Winter will soon be here. It will soon be night. [pause] It will soon strike six.
[Frieda enters]
Frieda: She will soon be able to play well, if she takes pains.
Isabella: [tritely] I have not been able to close my eyes all night.
Jan: I have not eaten anything yet. I have not made up my mind yet.
Isabella: Have you anything to declare?
Frieda: No, but I like to receive long letters. Have you received a letter?
Isabella: Yes, I arrived in time. Yes, it is he.
Frieda: Yes, I have received this one.
Isabella: [whispering] You have plenty of everything.
Frieda: You have hurt your finger. What have you in your hand?
Isabella: We shall have a fine day.
Frieda: What have you in the knapsack?
Isabella: I have some in pod in another place.
Frieda: The boy was not helped.
Isabella: [jealously] The more haste, the less speed.
Frieda: [eerily] The boy bats the ball. He throws the ball. I have helped him do his lesson.
Isabella: [undiplomatically] What is the date of the letter you have in your hand?
Jan: Towards the middle of January In a fortnight.
Isabella: We only returned a fortnight ago.
Frieda: He was ordered to go.
Isabella: Have you ordered dinner? I am going home to dinner.
Frieda: No, there is none there.
Jan: That is not true. This news is not true.
A dilapidated railway carriage. Isabella is leafing through a letter. Carla takes a seat.
Carla: I am a little better this morning.
Isabella: Waiter, a little more hot water.
[Karen enters]
Carla: Take this pen and give me the feather.
Isabella: Take this letter to the Post Office, and pay the postage.
Carla: Let us go into those little walks. Let us begin dinner.
Isabella: Let us go this way.
Karen: Necessity has no law. I speak it a little, but I understand it.
Isabella: Let us walk a little longer. Surely you can stay a little longer.
Karen: [innocently] I have many small claims on my purse, and many a little makes a mickle.
Isabella: You have a very fine collection of flowers.
Carla: Go a little lower down. Have a little more prudence.
Isabella: Waiter, a little more hot water. I should like a little more sugar.
Karen: Very little! My brother also is a student, but still be knows how to find time to make a trip.
Isabella: [elegantly] I will take a little beef, it looks very good.
Karen: If I mistake not, he looks rather stupid.
[Karen crosses the stage]
Isabella: [sarcastically] I speak it a little.
[Carla exits]
Karen: Thou hadst read the letter. Thou readest my book.
Isabella: Shall I cut your hair a little?
[Karen walks to the edge of the stage]
Karen: I speak it a little, but I understand it.
Isabella: Surely you can stay a little longer. I am very sorry I cannot stay any longer. Will you not rest a little?
[Isabella exits]
Karen: Money, more money.
A secluded churchyard. It is raining. Bjørn and Otto approach each other.
Bjørn: A mingled cry of horror and pity burst from the listeners.
Otto: For my part, I defy your threats and mistrust your promises.
Bjørn: The two young ladies are my sisters-in-law.
Otto: The houses are being built. We are going home.
Bjørn: The stork builds its nest on the top of houses. Sparrows build their nests under the eaves of houses.
Otto: I do not think your cousin could have done better than take this advice. However, the doctor says he will soon be well.
Bjørn: I don't think it is in very good taste, however.
Otto: But what is it all about, pray?
Bjørn: It is yet early in the day. Why don't you get out of the way?
Otto: I was out in the rain.
[Bjørn exits]
A small path. The sky is clear. Nina is awakening from sleep. Bjørn is nearby.
Bjørn: Is it possible you want to go out?
Nina: It is most important to do so.
Bjørn: It is impossible. It lives in holes in the ground, or under the roots of trees, and its flesh is said to be good eating.
Nina: I should like to, if possible.
Bjørn: It is impossible for me. It is impossible for me to fulfill your wishes.
Nina: [eerily] Don't sleep in the same bed with anyone else, and if possible, not in the same room. Do not let your baby lie with a strong light in his eyes. [pause] Keep out in the fresh air and in the sunlight as much as possible.
Bjørn: At length the scent was recovered, and the whole pack, with a fatal precision, again set forward in the direction taken by the unfortunate stranger.
[Bjørn exits]
A sparsely-furnished lighthouse. It is night. Karen is examining some money. Jan is sorting money. Frieda is removing her watch.
Frieda: Lincoln was elected president.
Jan: [putting down a pen] You may believe it. You may believe me. I scarcely believe it.
Karen: And besides I will give you a good character for attention. Twelve shillings, about 5 Rd. 40 ß Danish money.
Jan: A mark is one shilling, English money.
Karen: I don't know what this sum is in English money. Not so expensive as at the sea-side in England.
Frieda: My watch is broken, because my brother let it fall.
Karen: You have chosen your time well.
Frieda: All I have shall be thine.
Karen: [putting down a pen] And you have been disappointed?
Frieda: I should have been inclined. I shall have loved.
Karen: Do you think living is expensive in Denmark?
Jan: I am going into the country.
Karen: [putting down a pen] Of what size is the island?
Frieda: A week from to-day I shall be in the country.
[Dominik enters]
Karen: How far away from Copenhagen is the island?
Frieda: [picking up a pen] Your friend has a flower in her hand.
[Karen approaches Frieda]
Karen: He has not the least trouble in this world. Then you have learnt the language before your arrival in this country. How can you have a grudge against him?
Frieda: You have said much good of him.
[Bjørn enters]
Karen: I have taken my dinner. The fruit of industry.
Frieda: Then one hears the singing of birds.
Karen: The news of night.
Bjørn: The sleeves of my new coat are too tight.
Karen: I believe we shall leave England in a fortnight.
Dominik: How pure and beneficial the country air it. [pause] Why don't you wear your great coat?
Karen: I don't know what you mean. I am waiting your commands.
Frieda: My parents, whose letters I have read to you, will return soon.
Karen: We all of us are more ready to do evil than good. Everything included?
[Karen exits]
Bjørn: He is a young boy.
Frieda: [extravagantly] Are those boys your sons?
Bjørn: Nearer to thee, my God! We like to meet you.
Frieda: Where is the pen you wrote with?
Bjørn: [reassuringly] Where there is a will there is a way.
Jan: With the best will in the world I cannot do it. Give me a steel pen.
[Frieda sits next to Jan]
Dominik: At what hour in the morning do you expect the first post?
Bjørn: Then we were on the other side of the river.
Frieda: Much can be said about the boy and the robber. This house has eight beautiful windows.
Bjørn: The garrets are rooms at the top of the house in which the servants sleep.
A dilapidated office. A dog barks. A cow is outside. Carla is examining a ring. Bjørn is shaking an umbrella. Frieda sits at a desk.
Carla: Upon my word of honor. They are worn so now.
Bjørn: Let us get one victory more, and then we shall have honor for ever.
Frieda: A man who is honorable is respected. She is proud of her beauty.
Bjørn: If a man's conscience is regulated by his hair, then your honor has not got any conscience at all.
Frieda: His brother has lost his cane and my brother has lost my cane.
Bjørn: I am glad to hear that your brother has returned.
Frieda: Who will help that boy learn his lesson?
Carla: I wish we had invited that gentleman to dinner.
[Frieda walks to the edge of the stage]
Bjørn: For I find in every battle that you get all the honor and rewards, but all the blows fall upon me.
[a dog snarls]
Carla: He is a merchant, of whose honour and probity there can be no doubt.
Bjørn: Mr. and Mrs. Y. accept Mr. and Mrs. P.'s obliging invitation and will have the honor to be with them at the hour they mention.
Carla: [wishfully] Of all things in the world, history is the most enlightening.
Bjørn: Of all domestic animals the dog is the most familiar and intelligent.
Frieda: The cow is the thing for me.
Bjørn: The swallow is the harbinger of spring.
Carla: What is the price of this ring?
Bjørn: Give me the bill of fare.
Frieda: Give me your chunk of gold and take my horse. You will not be aware of it.
Bjørn: If the weather should be unfavorable he will not come. [pause] Has your sister seen him?
Frieda: [tamely] A man who is honorable is respected.
[Guiseppe enters]
Carla: This letter is directed to you. He likes better to walk than to work.
Frieda: Charles writes well, William writes better, but Emma writes the best.
Carla: He will enjoy there better health than in the city. Half-binding will do; but they must be lettered like that Moliere.
[Carla exits]
Guiseppe: The covetous despise the poor, but the generous cherish them.
Bjørn: [airily] The ram is the male of the sheep.
Guiseppe: He lives there the whole year.
Bjørn: He lives in this house. [pause] It looks so very nice.
[Frieda exits]
Guiseppe: Spain is a hot country, but Germany is a very cold one. [pause] I am more cold than hungry.
Bjørn: The weather is very bad, you cannot go out without an umbrella. The wolf is a cruel and rapacious animal.
A shadowy churchyard. A fire burns. Leaves blow across the stage. It is night. Jan is pouring a mug of coffee. Dominik is looking at a clock.
Jan: If the wind be favourable we shall be at Ostend in four hours.
Dominik: [pouring some coffee] If you allow me, I shall have this honour.
Jan: I wish you will have a pleasant journey.
Dominik: You will give me twenty copecs.
Jan: I will go with you. I shall go home.
Dominik: I will wait on you at home.
Jan: If you will be so good. The coffee is good.
Dominik: He will be here at nine o'clock.
Jan: It will soon be nine o'clock. He set off this evening at nine o'clock. We will visit the Church of the Holy Spirit at two o'clock.
Dominik: They will soon begin to cut the wheat. It will soon be time to go to church.
Jan: Winter will soon be here. We must soon begin fires.
Dominik: [adding some twigs to the fire] It will soon be night. I shall soon be forty.
[Dominik exits]
A dimly-lit beach. Otto and Marie approach each other.
Marie: They were.
Otto: Right here.
Marie: I have there. I have not there. I have had there.
Otto: Cannon were brought out, and the palace was soon in flames.
Marie: We were speaking.
[Otto exits]
A dimly-lit back room. Guiseppe is leafing through a book. Dominik stands at the door.
Guiseppe: You will soon perceive the effects of it, provided you follow my directions, though you think the Italian tongue is very difficult.
Dominik: [shudderingly] I was present at the admittance of a new member to the academy.
Guiseppe: [instinctively] You are in the right, sir, since you live behind the Tower. These are all the copies which you have given me to write.
Dominik: How have you been, since I had the pleasure of seeing you last? I cannot get rid of him.
Guiseppe: I have found the book which I had lost.
[Guiseppe exits]
A dilapidated church. Karen is wearing a dress. Otto stands in the aisle.
Karen: [looking at the clock] Well, the consonants ending the syllable or word are not kindly treated by your countrymen, I understand, for very often they are omitted.
Otto: Even to-day the little children who attend the schools for the poorer classes in Germany have to be in their places at 7 a.m. We are off to Berlin by the next train, which leaves in twenty minutes.
Karen: [indistinctly] We want to see that island, the kitchen garden of Copenhagen, and the descendants of the Dutch who retain the habits and dress of their forefathers to this day.
Otto: [wildly] As a rule they are children of the forest, carrying on the same occupations as their fore-fathers. He is one of the richest men here and has the finest house in town.
Karen: Such omissions and the inevitable combining of the words offend the euphony of the language and makes it difficult to understand. [drastically] Our luggage will be examined in the custom-house, I suppose.
Otto: Even to-day the little children who attend the schools for the poorer classes in Germany have to be in their places at 7 a.m.
Karen: It starts at 7 o'clock.
[Karen exits]
A deserted street. It is night. Guiseppe and Bjørn approach each other.
Bjørn: They might be. It might be.
Guiseppe: They went yesterday morning.
Bjørn: The fact is certain.
Guiseppe: The gardens are very fine. But such are very rare. I write three hours every day.
Bjørn: [piteously] There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year.
Guiseppe: The French had the name of being the most civil people in the world. In short, it is the most abominable crime in the world. [pause] It is the finest weather in the world.
Bjørn: He might be the father of the girl. In going down, take care you do not fall.
[Bjørn exits]
A dimly-lit restaurant. The sky is clear outside. Dominik is winding the clock. Isabella approaches.
Dominik: He is successful in every thing. [pause] About four o'clock.
Isabella: I rise in the morning at six o'clock. We want dinner at six o'clock.
[Nina enters]
Dominik: The first steamer goes to-morrow morning at six o'clock precisely. Order a post-chaise to be here exactly at six o'clock.
Isabella: To-morrow morning at six o'clock.
Dominik: The coach for P.starts at five o'clock.
Nina: The packets arrived two by two. The commission-agent went by the three o'clock train.
Dominik: It is six o'clock by the sun. Pray, tell me what o'clock it is.
Nina: My brother-in-law is a good clerk but he is tired of working.
Dominik: My aunt is on the wrong side of thirty.
Nina: This cloth is finished on the wrong side. [turning to Isabella] The copy book is on the table.
A dimly-lit hospital ward. It is night. Isabella is holding a deck of cards. Frieda is nearby.
Frieda: If you please. He had lost the sparrow, for a cat had eaten it.
[Isabella walks to the back of the stage]
Isabella: I like it better than whist, or even piquet.
Frieda: To read books is easier than to write books.
[Nina enters]
[Isabella walks to the back of the stage]
Isabella: Two heads are better than one. They are indeed very handsome.
Frieda: The books you lent me are extremely interesting. The reading of books is a pleasure to me.
Isabella: Whose books are these? She is more than seven.
Frieda: I always play there. It is probably your sister.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] We shall be there in less than half an hour.
Frieda: I myself saw the king and queen on horseback.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] I rise in the morning at six o'clock. I have lost myself in these narrow streets.
Frieda: I accustom myself to country life.
Isabella: I will put it out myself. It will cost you more.
Nina: You will not get well if you don't do as you are told.
Isabella: I speak it just enough to make myself understood. It seems to me rather uncertain.
Nina: Let me put the thermometer under your tongue.
[Frieda exits]
Isabella: Did you hear the thunder last night?
Nina: Yes, I should like to have a doctor see him.
[Nina exits]
A sunless dock. A boat is waiting. A dog barks. It is raining. Marie is leafing through a book. Bjørn is leafing through a newspaper. Quinn sits nearby.
Marie: Such flowers.
Quinn: It has gold-coloured flowers.
Marie: To your house. You should be.
Quinn: Don't mind those people.
Marie: John is the most diligent of my pupils.
Bjørn: What is the postage to Denmark? That is the question.
Marie: I have not spoken to him. I have not spoken it.
Bjørn: Do not speak to me of it.
Marie: Do I not speak to him about it?
Bjørn: You speak too fast. Do not speak to me.
Marie: I speak not to him. Here is my book.
Bjørn: I want a quire of paper. I read it in the newspapers. I fear it will rain.
Marie: The books which you have lent me. They would speak.
Quinn: My goodness what happened to your foot? My goodness, Dan, don't be making a fool of yourself.
Bjørn: We didn't know what had become of you.
Quinn: But no matter how little or much of it they know they ought to speak it and get accustomed to the conversation.
Bjørn: I inquired for the master of the house and was shown into the parlor.
Quinn: I dare say the lady of the house has something for us to eat, my pet.
Bjørn: Cats attach themselves to the house, and dogs to the person of their master.
[Antoine enters]
Quinn: See the beautiful elms, and the horse-chestnuts with their abundant fruit.
Antoine: The book of which I speak.
Quinn: [sensibly] What kind of bait do you use?
Antoine: [self-righteously] The man with whom I speak. I didn't speak to you.
Quinn: We shall go to speak to him. We have got the deep water again.
Antoine: With whom are you speaking? I give you some. [to Marie] Give John some.
Marie: He was speaking.
Antoine: Of which one are you speaking?
Quinn: Some of them are bleating. What a number of them are there.
Bjørn: I call that speaking.
Antoine: I shall be at the queen's castle.
Marie: You shall have been. I shall have been. We shall have been.
Bjørn: [eating some fruit] You have not been here before.
Antoine: I shall see the doctor later.
Quinn: But we shall cross the river now.
Marie: We shall have spoken. He shall have been.
[Nina enters]
Quinn: [protestingly] We shall have sufficient bait also.
Marie: I shall have spoken. One shall have been.
Quinn: You have got it all daubed with tar. [to Nina] I get sea-sick from the tossing of the boat, and besides I get rather afraid of the waves.
Nina: Will you set the books on that shelf and set those papers in order?
Quinn: [trenchantly] I suppose the boys have great amusement there.
Bjørn: You must have patience. You have loved.
Quinn: We must have patience for a while.
Nina: We have taken notice of it.
[Bjørn exits]
Antoine: We have gotten rid of our servant.
A secluded campsite. A bell rings. A fire burns. It is raining. Isabella is slicing a lettuce. Otto is holding a newspaper. Nina is pouring a glass of milk.
Isabella: Certainly, Sir. These are my things.
Nina: Let me test your lungs.
Isabella: Let us begin lunch.
[Otto glances at Nina]
Nina: He is sick.
Isabella: Here is coffee. Here is lettuce. [turning to Otto] There is tea.
Otto: Well, that is often the case you know in summer.
Nina: What is it that you do not understand?
Otto: [hatefully] That is also true, but Otto did not consider him a prisoner.
[Isabella approaches Nina]
Nina: It is best to keep food covered all the time.
Otto: If I am to keep my health I must have fresh air.
Nina: Try to keep your house and your street clean.
Otto: The little creature went on. This butter really tastes good. Why, that is really too bad!
Isabella: You may rely on its being ready at that time.
Otto: [eating some lettuce] He stood on the bridge, looking down at the water. I should probably stay five or six weeks, and would like a rather large and sunny room if I could get one.
Isabella: I have seen from your advertisement in the newspaper that you have some rooms to let.
Otto: Well, he lived in retirement and never read a newspaper.
Isabella: I have travelled in Germany and Italy.
Otto: Now all scholars may go and play.
Isabella: When all comes to all. He generally comes home early.
[Nina enters]
Otto: My brother went to Toronto by train yesterday. I have spent a good deal of money this year.
Isabella: I would rather have the word of an honest man than his oath.
Otto: The man whom we saw at the station yesterday was a German.
Nina: [drinking some milk] Yes, they sold them yesterday; also the muslin and prints. [pause] He sells.
Nina: Milk is what they need to make them strong; but it must be fresh, pure milk.
Nina: Spot cotton was quoted yesterday one point higher than the day before, but futures declined 3/32. [pause] Do not be long in making up your mind one way or the other.
Otto: [perplexedly] The poor old soldier whom we saw in the park yesterday was sent to me this morning by Dr. Brown, who is very anxious that some occupation he found for him. My brother went to Toronto by train yesterday.
Nina: Yes, they sold them yesterday; also the muslin and prints. Yes, they must always be clean. Yes, because England is a free country.
[Isabella tosses a coin]
Otto: I thank you for telling the boy stories, but you must not spoil his ideas. [eating some lettuce] I suppose prices are not high in such a place, and that would please me, too.
Nina: See to the fire, it is going out, poke it a little and add some coal.
Isabella: Allow me to help you to a little of this shoulder of lamb.
Nina: [frowningly] How old is this little girl? Yes, a little too fast for me.
Isabella: As old as the hills. I am much obliged to you for your kindness.
Nina: I worked there three years and two months. I see the boys and tell them the news. Begin the paragraph at the top of the page.
[a train pulls up]
Isabella: [grumpily] Your uncle must be very nearly forty years old.
Nina: The net profits of this year show an increase of £1,000.
[Nina exchanges glances with Isabella]
Isabella: There is a fine show of plums this year.
[a bell sounds]
Nina: This is nothing short of dishonesty. [to Nina] He ordered the wrong article.
Nina: What has your employer done for you since you were hurt?
[Nina exits]
Isabella: The year one thousand nine hundred and fifteen.
Nina: [squeamishly] That will bring him £500 a year if it brings him a penny. [turning to Otto] It is a truth than which no bitterer exists.
Otto: What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also?
Nina: In the past year the climax of prosperity was reached. We received this year three cargoes of bananas from the Canary Islands.
Otto: [adding a log to the fire] As is often the case, however, the little mouse, like a good many people, was not so clever as it thought, as we shall see when the story ends.
Nina: He told me the figures did not compare well with those of last year. The output for the first two months of the current year was 18,668 lbs. dry rubber. The net profits of this year show an increase of £1,000.
Otto: And yet we are told in old books of travel that this was the case years ago in Basel.
Nina: Are you going to Spain this year?
Otto: I have spent a good deal of money this year.
Nina: They have been for 15 years.
Isabella: The apricots will be very fine this year.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
Isabella: Your uncle must be very nearly forty years old. Will you take a glass of beer?
Otto: [drinking some milk] I will take 3 lbs. of it.
Isabella: You will have plenty of apples. Joking apart.
Nina: The father and the mother of the captain. These shapes are not worn outside England.
Isabella: The winter in the north of Spain is almost as cold as in England. Necessity knows no law.
Nina: I wonder if this is the engineer whose son is a lawyer.
Isabella: Do you think the river will soon freeze over?
Nina: No matter what he will say I am sure he will have to pay.
Isabella: Yes, Sir, and I am sure they will please you. Yes, Sir; I hope you will be pleased with it.
Nina: I am sorry they were delayed so long because now the market is glutted with fruit.
[snow falls]
Isabella: Can you tell me if there are any apartments to be had in this street?
Otto: And I have a pretty ribbon to hang it on with.
Isabella: To have a voice in the matter. You have let the fire out.
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance.
Isabella: Cherries and strawberries are now in their prime.
Nina: [elaborately] The roses and violets are in the flower-stand.
Isabella: Now let us go into the flower-garden.
Otto: I was out in the rain. He was shutting the door.
Isabella: Make hay while the sun shines.
[Isabella exits]
Otto: He said he was sick.
Nina: I buy the tree. I buy.
Otto: They said they had seen your father.
Nina: The term you have set me is too short.
Otto: The houses are being built. They are fine fellows.
Nina: Weavers and spinners are all holding up their prices.
Otto: I have spent a good deal of money this year.
Nina: And I expect a good parcel of muscatels from Valencia as well.
Otto: Would it not he a good idea to hang a bell on the cat's tail? Convinced that there was no great danger, even for one who could not swim well, as the water was not very deep, I was going to spring in.
Nina: [pouring some milk] Little and good is better than much and bad.
Otto: [banteringly] All I have, and that is very little, is in the right drawer of that table.
Nina: There is nothing or very little to be got out of that firm.
Otto: Their clothing is simple and costs very little.
[Otto exits]
A quiet alleyway. Leaves blow across the stage. The sky is clear. Jan is stirring a flask of coffee. Frieda enters.
Frieda: William goes into the room.
Jan: At 3 we will go to the Promenade.
Frieda: He who will not hear must feel. You will not be aware of it.
Jan: I will not hear anything of it.
Frieda: They will learn theirs now. Then one hears the singing of birds.
Jan: The sun is coming out again. The wind is going down. The coffee is good.
Frieda: At the beginning of summer we shall hear the singing of birds.
Jan: [eating some soup] Give me a good bouillon, or rice soup.
Frieda: Sparrow is very good.
Jan: [sombrely] I wish you good day.
[Jan exits]
A small office. Jan is carrying his luggage. Karen is holding her luggage.
Karen: But also remember, that we must take advice of old people and employ young people to act.
Jan: One would take her to be 10 years younger. It is very unpleasant to me.
Karen: Take the leaf away from the mouth.
Jan: Well, I will take him for three days. [pause] Do you understand Dutch?
Karen: If you take a walk, you will be there in a quarter of an hour.
Jan: The luggage will be taken to the Customhouse.
[Guiseppe enters]
Karen: [abruptly] Our luggage will be examined in the custom-house, I suppose.
Guiseppe: [shrewdly] You have examined them carefully. Our house is finer than yours.
Jan: I have not had the pleasure of seeing you for some time.
Guiseppe: An honest man takes always pleasure in obliging his friends.
Jan: I have read the whole of this work.
Guiseppe: I will take so much pains that I hope I shall speak it before it is long.
Karen: Besides, he never takes a drop too much, and is no saunterer. [to Jan] I think the Riddersal (Knight's Hall) with the massive silver throne covered with tapestry representing the battles in which Christian the Fourth was engaged is especially to be mentioned.
[Karen exits]
Jan: Do you take English money? Then I will take it in florins.
Guiseppe: No, but I have been at Rouen.
Jan: I thank you, I have enough.
Guiseppe: I think you are very idle. I write three hours every day. Lend me three thousand pounds for a month.
Jan: Will you have the kindness to change this gold for me?
Guiseppe: I had rather die than disoblige you.
Jan: I had much rather see him go than come.
Guiseppe: [polishing a coin] I will rather consent to lose all, than give up my right.
[Guiseppe exits]
A quiet hotel lobby. It is raining outside the window. Antoine is sipping milk. Isabella is looking into a flask of tea.
Antoine: Thunder makes milk sour.
Isabella: There is tea. There is bad news.
[Jan enters]
Antoine: There is a bullet in the wound. There was a revolution in France.
Isabella: It rained the whole day when we went into the country.
Antoine: He was in the best humor in the world. Gascons are the biggest liars in the world, they-say.
Jan: Towards noon we must visit the studios of the sculptor K. and the painter N.
[thunder crashes]
Antoine: That man who is stopping before the picture, and whose attitude shows contempt, is a celebrated painter.
[rain lashes down]
Jan: [reflexively] To-day I wish to see the Royal Library, and the Royal Stables.
Antoine: Did you see the words that I carved on the door?
[Antoine exits]
Jan: Yes certainly, I take the pound at 20 mark.
Isabella: I am going to take a walk. I am going to bed. [pause] I am going home to dinner.
A sparsely-furnished cafe. Nina is darning a hat. Marie is nearby.
Marie: Have I spoken to him about it?
Nina: I am grateful to him for it. I will tell it to him.
Marie: I have not seen him for a long time.
Nina: I have seen the house. I have given them six.
Nina: These warehouses are 30' long, 20' wide and 15 feet high.
Nina: [charmingly] Do you belong to any church? It will pay you in the long run.
Nina: No, I am poor but I am happy.
Nina: Do you have to bend over so when you write?
Nina: Yes, they are cleaned every morning by the servants.
Nina: At the hospital he can have everything that he needs. This child is peeling.
Nina: The hats and caps have turned out excellently.
Nina: [tensely] My father and mother have arrived today. [pause] Be careful.
Nina: The father and the mother of the captain.
Nina: The mother loves her son.
[Marie crosses the stage]
Nina: The brother and the sister sell. The teeth and the tongue are inside the mouth.
[Carla enters]
Nina: It will spoil their teeth and ruin their stomachs.
Marie: [hungrily] It is folly to grieve at the success of other people.
Nina: It is very important to keep the mouth clean.
Carla: It is very hard to have neither money nor friends.
Nina: It is very important to have their meals at regular times during the day. It is a pleasure to look at a tidy book.
Carla: I am very sorry to hear she is so ill.
Nina: We are sorry to hear it. [turning to Nina] How much do you have to spend a month for food?
Nina: Kindly take due note of our signature at foot.
[Marie exits]
Nina: We will lend you the money to pay your advance rent.
Carla: They will fetch a high price there.
[Carla exits]
Nina: [polishing a coin] They will give him ether. They will give him dinner there in the middle of the day.
Nina: The law of supply and demand governs the markets of the world.
Nina: They have not any, and we are glad of it.
[Nina crosses the stage]
Nina: The old man and the old woman. The father has the coat.
Nina: The mother loves her son.
A sunless harbour. A boat is waiting. Guiseppe and Quinn approach each other.
Guiseppe: If we compare the longest life to eternity, it is very short.
[a horse snorts]
Quinn: I understand the whole story now. and certainly it is a sorry story. Later on they will be spinning and weaving it.
Guiseppe: You see I do not entertain you like a stranger, but I treat you like a friend.
Quinn: Declan, you sit on the well thwart, and Dan, you take the back thwart. Thank you, and may God rest the souls that left you!
Guiseppe: France is larger and more powerful than Italy.
Quinn: He is a wonderful man.
[Guiseppe glares at Quinn]
Guiseppe: [touchily] The gardens are very fine. I think you are very idle.
Quinn: The oars are all in the boat. They have got the ball into the goal now.
Guiseppe: These are all the copies which you have given me to write.
Quinn: I dare say they will soon have to be earthed.
Guiseppe: They say you are going to be married. They say so, indeed.
Quinn: It is a long time since I saw any one intoxicated in the parish. I suppose, Michael, you are very busy at present preparing the land for the crops?
Guiseppe: I entreat you to present my most humble respects to the lady your mother.
Quinn: His horse and driver met with a terrible accident the other day. I'm not fond of of the jackdaw because he makes such a row early in the morning in the top of the chimney, and keeps me awake.
Guiseppe: If we compare the longest life to eternity, it is very short.
Quinn: I love the smell of the white-thorn.
Guiseppe: He lives there the whole year. I am going there, lest he should come.
Quinn: They are in the field where the cows are lying and chewing the cud.
Guiseppe: The covetous despise the poor, but the generous cherish them.
Quinn: The stalks are withered in that garden north, but I suppose it is time for them. Do you remember you promised me a lark?
Guiseppe: You often promised me to do me service, but I will never believe you. You promised to write to me last week, but I am very sorry to observe you have forgot me.
[Guiseppe exits]
A dimly-lit beach. Leaves blow across the stage. It is raining. Nina is sorting money. Karen is examining a book. Isabella is pouring a mug of tea.
Isabella: Will you render me a service? I am at your service.
Nina: We do not want you to lose any money. Our correspondents are short-staffed, hence their delaying often to send out our invoices, which is a great inconvenience.
Karen: I have been told, that books are lent out on application.
Nina: These shapes are not worn outside England.
[Frieda enters]
Isabella: The heels are too wide. Tell that to the marines.
Nina: [professionally] He offers a loan to avoid all risk that the house should fall. I did all I could so that nothing should be lost.
Isabella: If you will give me a castle, I will try another game.
Karen: I think I can pay you back in your own coin.
Isabella: I think you will find it fine.
Karen: [pouring some tea] Either you or I may call on them.
[thunder crashes]
Nina: The old man and the old woman.
Karen: The rich man's troubles.
Nina: The bill falls due on the 15th inst.
[Bjørn enters]
[everybody turns to look at Karen]
Karen: The darkness of the death. The peace of the author.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
Karen: [wolfishly] The son writes.
[a horse neighs]
Nina: The father has the coat. The old woman has the hat.
Bjørn: The little boy caresses his good old father.
[Isabella crosses the stage]
Nina: The little house I paid for. He wrote us so.
Bjørn: [pouring some tea] The weather is very bad, you cannot go out without an umbrella.
Nina: These shapes are not worn outside England. [turning to Isabella] Do not take any notice of him.
[rain lashes down]
Isabella: Is it as hot in England as in Spain in the summer? Yes, it was a terrible storm, and it rained in torrents.
Nina: Yes, because England is a free country.
[Nina exits]
Isabella: Yes, she is a friend of my younger sister.
Frieda: Have the goodness to see where your brother is. Are those boys your sons?
Bjørn: Her gown was made by my dressmaker.
Frieda: [tossing a coin] Has your tailor already made your coat?
Isabella: Tea will be ready in a moment.
[Isabella exits]
Bjørn: Charity begins at home. They will find the house. [pause] He lives in this house.
Frieda: I saw him in the garden with the tailor.
Bjørn: [pointedly] The swallow is the harbinger of spring. I have much salt.
[Bjørn exits]
Frieda: The cow is the thing for me. John throws the ball to him.
Karen: Then you have learnt the language before your arrival in this country.
[rain lashes down]
Frieda: I have been looking for Charles's friend this morning.
Karen: Do you think of going abroad this year? [surlily] And you will allow me to make objections, if you are wrong.
[Nina enters]
Nina: John looks for his book and his paper.
Karen: But for the newspapers.
Nina: Has Henry much paper?
Frieda: Please give him this book. Please have the kindness to look for it.
Nina: [polishing a coin] I gave him notice because he is very lazy.
Frieda: The lion did not revenge himself on the poor mouse, because he was a lion.
Nina: The bill market was very firm to-day but there was little doing. He buys a horse from the Frenchman.
[a horse snorts]
Frieda: Would a camel notice a single drop of water in his stomach?
Nina: Will you put all those answered letters in that shelf.
Frieda: [rakishly] I will give you the prettiest I have.
Karen: Waiter, give me the bill of fare.
Nina: [unthinkingly] The father, the mother, and the brother.
Karen: [fiercely] They are, and the girls are rather pretty.
Nina: The father and the mother of the captain.
Frieda: The wind and the rain are ceasing. The boys went into the country a week ago.
[thunder rumbles]
Nina: [pouring some tea] The teeth and the tongue are inside the mouth.
Frieda: They wish neither to read nor to study. I remember neither the king nor the queen.
Nina: Therefore we cannot entertain your offer for the present. Do not be long in making up your mind one way or the other.
Karen: This is an offence against the language in more than one way.
A damp office. Frieda is examining a shoe. Nina enters and sits down.
Nina: Sign your name here.
Frieda: I always play there. [pause] Mr. Smith comes into the room.
Nina: I board with Mr. Scala.
Frieda: [cordially] Will you go with me? Be afraid of the creature.
Nina: I will send it to you.
Frieda: Now I will set to work on the shoes.
Nina: Have you closets to put your clothes in?
[Nina exits]
Frieda: No, but I like to receive long letters.
A quiet hotel room. A bell rings. Otto is counting out money. Guiseppe is sorting money. Dominik stands at the door.
Otto: You may imagine, then, how delighted I was when my friend Alice called this morning and brought it to me. I have spent a good deal of money this year.
[a bell sounds]
Guiseppe: Never refuse to do a good office to your friends, when it is in your power.
Otto: [eating some fruit] Would it not he a good idea to hang a bell on the cat's tail?
[Otto exits]
Guiseppe: I owe him money, because I promised to pay him another man's debt.
Dominik: They say that he has procured him a very good place. The upper-leathers are good for nothing.
[Dominik walks to the back of the stage]
Guiseppe: It looks very fine, but its fruit is good for nothing.
Dominik: [sadly] I love walking, but I do not like to run. In this hotel you will find good accommodation.
Guiseppe: It is a very dishonest thing not to be as good as one's word.
Dominik: It is fine walking to-day, the weather is good for walking.
Guiseppe: I read them all, they are very good, and well written.
Dominik: It is said that he leaves him in very good circumstances.
Guiseppe: [eating some fruit] I was told that you speak Italian very well.
Dominik: Some are good and some are bad. You are a good diver.
Guiseppe: [loftily] Come and rejoice with me at the good news I received to-day. Would to God I still were under his tuition, and my father had never removed me from his school.
Dominik: With rapid speed, with the greatest expedition, with all convenient speed.
Guiseppe: Louis the XIVth was one of the greatest kings in the world. Never refuse to do a good office to your friends, when it is in your power.
Dominik: Pray come and spend one of these evenings at my house.
Guiseppe: [eating some fruit] A good action deserves great praise.
A grimy bar. Frieda is cleaning a knife. Marie is holding a letter.
Frieda: [brashly] A poor boy, the son of our old gardener, has lost his new knife. At the end of summer the birds will have flown away.
[Nina enters]
Nina: If you let the child grow up like that, he will not be able to walk at all.
Marie: At the price of his honor he has capitulated.
[Nina walks to the back of the stage]
Nina: Look at the opposite page in about the middle.
Frieda: Are the books on the tables?
[Frieda exits]
Nina: Use these words in sentences. Is there water in the cellar?
Marie: I have written the letters.
Nina: I have heard a good deal said about Florence.
Marie: Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable.
Nina: There are as many boys as girls.
Marie: I have as much of this as of that.
Nina: You will have to pay him a dollar for his visit.
A cold bar. Jan is looking at the clock. Marie and Bjørn are sitting at a table.
Bjørn: I cannot get it into his head.
Jan: I am going into the country.
Bjørn: [hatefully] I am going on deck. Thanks.
Jan: I am going to town.
[Marie walks to the front of the stage]
Bjørn: I am going to ascend the mountain.
Jan: Let us go into the shade. We shall soon land.
Marie: No son of mine shall become an actor.
Jan: At 8 o'clock I shall go to the theatre. [pause] We dine at the table d'hote at 2 o'clock.
Marie: I speak of the parents whose child was drowned yesterday.
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] Take all these pins out of the paper, and stick them into the pincushion.
[Nina enters]
Marie: My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
Jan: The higher the mountain, the deeper the valley.
Nina: [gracefully] The brother and the sister sell. These envelopes go into the waste-paper basket.
Bjørn: Put this poor fellow out into the street!
Nina: This will avoid any difficulty in that respect. The news from the East produced a bad effect on the market.
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] I will try if it be true that such a bird can live two hundred years.
Marie: Do not unto others that which thou wouldst not like to be done unto thee.
Nina: I very much question the advisability of putting prices up at the present moment when so many adverse circumstances have to be taken into consideration.
[Bjørn exits]
Marie: I speak of the parents whose child was drowned yesterday. He had spoken.
Jan: [congenially] I dine with a friend today.
Marie: [looking at the clock] She lives with her parents. He lives opposite the church.
Jan: Take the luggage into my room.
Marie: The books which you have lent me. [to Nina] All the earth.
A deserted hospital ward. A fire burns. Otto is holding a book. Isabella enters.
Otto: I have nothing left that I could give.
Isabella: You have not kept the fire up. You have not yet seen my flowers.
Otto: [adding some twigs to the fire] The man there yonder is a book-seller.
Isabella: The mainspring is broken. The weather is very close. The weather is clearing up.
Otto: The book-seller is himself an Englishman and was a soldier, but is now well-known in town as a business-man. Alas, I have to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it. I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.
Isabella: He enjoys excellent health, and does not know what sickness is.
Otto: [shrewdly] However, the doctor says he will soon be well.
Isabella: They will soon be over. I hope you will soon be better.
Otto: They were very glad to see their mother again.
Isabella: They are very glad of it.
Otto: Too often your discoveries are very flat and you know it.
A sunless campsite. The sky is clear. A fire burns. Carla is slicing a piece of cheese. Marie and Isabella arrive.
Marie: I deceive myself. I did deceive myself.
Carla: I did myself the honour to call on you.
Marie: [eating some cheese] What hard truths they have told each other!
Carla: I will try to render myself worthy of the friendship with which you honour me. Have you any good cheese?
Isabella: I am going that way myself. I was going to church.
Marie: [adding a log to the fire] Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable.
Isabella: Have you heard from your brother lately?
Marie: I have had there.
Isabella: You have let the fire out. You have not kept the fire up. You have not yet seen my flowers.
Marie: The florist from whom I have received these flowers. Have I not spoken it?
Isabella: I could not answer for it.
Marie: Your children and mine.
[Frieda enters]
Isabella: Make hay while the sun shines.
Marie: He has known the ladies. I have not there.
Carla: How many young ladies did you see at the ball? I like to see the blaze. [pause] Come and make up the fire.
Isabella: [adding some twigs to the fire] Tell your master to send me the bill.
Marie: My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
[Carla exits]
Frieda: The mother called her daughters to her. She is younger than her sister.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's. Brothers and sisters should love one another.
Isabella: [confidentially] The better the day, the better the deed.
Marie: Obedient children are the joy of their parents.
A peaceful forest. Jan and Elias approach each other.
Jan: I have a headache.
Elias: You are a poor eater. We are soon there.
Jan: I want a room overlooking the Rhine.
Elias: [reproachfully] The swan swam over the lake. The man was lame.
Jan: I am very glad to have made his acquaintance. It is proved.
Elias: I think he is gone to see his sister.
Jan: I think we are going to have a storm.
Elias: In this house and in that garden.
Jan: I beg a thousand pardons.
Elias: [demurely] I beg your pardon. Give me some of this lean, if you please.
A well-kept garden. It is raining. Dominik is cleaning a sword. Otto approaches.
Dominik: My nose is frost-bitten. My silk is broken.
Otto: Perhaps your name is Rumpelstiltskin?
Dominik: Every man to his liking. A man's house is his castle.
Otto: He stood on the bridge, looking down at the water.
Dominik: He has a pointed nose.
Otto: [incredulously] I was out in the rain. That will do.
Dominik: You are in the right. [pause] In reference to what you say.
Otto: I have gone into the most distinguished houses, and go yet.
Dominik: The brothers N. have undertaken the whole stock together with the assets and debts.
Otto: He is one of the richest men here and has the finest house in town.
Dominik: He speaks through his nose. He ran him through with his sword.
Otto: The enemy thoroughly deceived withdrew, and the town was saved.
Dominik: The vedette informed the main guard, and the enemy was soon dispersed.
Otto: He had come intending to surprise me and he succeeded. One must no longer spend the time in boyish dreams after twenty years of age, you know.
Dominik: I should be sorry to spend the finest season of the year in town.
Otto: I should like to hear what the rest of you think. I wish you would write the letter before going down town.
[Otto exits]
An untidy beach. Karen emerges from the water. Ludwik, a stranger, is reading a book.
Karen: So she is; a pity only that she squints.
Ludwik: Nevertheless there is only sand in the desert. There is much sand in the desert.
[Ludwik eats some soup]
Karen: He must be well acquainted not only with the town, but also with the environs. They do so.
Ludwik: That is not only useless but even harmful. Will you look for them for me?
Karen: Now will you allow me to ask for the names of the bridges. I am much obliged to you, but I shall only ask for a glass of water. Certainly, but only for six weeks.
Ludwik: It was beautiful weather yesterday, but today we shall have good weather also.
Karen: I wonder why the cook puts those small swimming puddingballs into the soup. Now the steamer stops; do you hear they are letting off the steam.
Ludwik: It is my cousin's duty to study those books at the rate of ten pages a day.
Karen: [standoffishly] It is on "Kongens Nytorv" at the corner of Newhaven.
Ludwik: I wish to give both the peaches and the apples to the woman.
Karen: Put the key and the reel together.
Ludwik: [quietly] Is the large sack behind the door theirs?
Karen: [sitting down at at the table] The boy has a fine donkey. The fruit of industry.
Ludwik: The table has red and blue and yellow flowers on it.
Karen: With pleasure, and thank you, Sir, on his behalf. They are, and the girls are rather pretty.
Ludwik: The flowers wilt because of the dry weather. I do it in order that he may help you.
[Ludwik exits]
A secluded path. Karen and Elias approach each other.
Elias: He is not at home. It is not late.
Karen: He is always too late. The miser's gold.
Elias: The girl draws tolerably well.
Karen: They read well. The flower smells.
Elias: Very well, and you? He is not at home.
Karen: Very well, Sir.
Elias: His sister plays well. Her mother lived then. Her uncle came into the room.
Karen: I wonder, if those girls are the "Amagerpiger".
Elias: E. bought ground to build a theatre. She is not up to her sister in French.
[Carla enters]
Carla: He has made a present to his sister. I should have written yesterday to my sister.
[Carla exits]
Elias: The girl went there contrary to my wish. It's very dusty.
[Elias exits]
A quiet forest. It is raining. Elias is wiping a glass. Ludwik sits nearby.
Ludwik: There she can see and smell the flowers, and can take long walks in the adjacent fields and forest.
Elias: There were many counts and barons present. I had been heard.
Ludwik: There are sixty minutes in one hour, and sixty seconds in one minute.
Elias: There was an empty glass on the table. Make haste.
Ludwik: There are flowers on the table. [blandly] What patience it shows!
Elias: There are some drops of rain falling. [pause] To be or not to be, that is the question.
Ludwik: Therefore we often say that the summer is the pleasantest season.
Elias: There are some strangers coming.
Ludwik: The leaves are long and green.
Elias: These heads are badly done. I have been here long.
Ludwik: [sitting down at at the table] Green leaves are on the trees in the large garden.
Elias: [frostily] The girl's petticoat was too long. [pause] It is cold.
Ludwik: They do not wish to gather flowers, or walk, or see the birds.
Elias: We do not do so in our country.
Ludwik: I will not delay you long. Perhaps he will obey you.
Elias: You were not at home. You are a poor eater.
[Ludwik exits]
A small field. It is raining. A bell rings. Leaves blow across the stage. Ludwik is eating an apple. Isabella is examining an orange.
Ludwik: I think that a warm wind will blow soon.
Isabella: Do you think the river will soon freeze over?
[Isabella points to Ludwik]
Ludwik: No, he shakes the branch, and the apples fall.
Isabella: The rain has laid the dust a little.
Ludwik: The man passed the house. The walls of the house.
Isabella: There is a bell at the side of the chimney-piece. [pause] It is only a stone's throw.
Ludwik: People will be angry with the weathercock, because it points out a north wind.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Isabella: I will be with you in a minute.
Ludwik: Those will be angry with you. [pause] These friends will take a walk.
Isabella: No, I shall dine with some friends in town and return late.
Ludwik: No, they have fresh fruit.
Isabella: They are laden with fruit.
Ludwik: Were we seen in the garden? The tree is in the garden. The trees in the garden are tall and green.
Isabella: There was no fish in the market.
Ludwik: [eating some fruit] The men sit on benches in the garden. The men are sitting on chairs in the garden.
Isabella: She is in the flower of her youth.
Ludwik: She is sitting in the house, near the window.
Isabella: Take this letter to the Post Office, and pay the postage.
[Nina enters]
Ludwik: One cuts fruit with a knife, and puts the fruit upon a plate. One eats meat with a fork, and soup with a spoon.
Isabella: These oranges are very sweet.
[Isabella exits]
Nina: These terms are better than those of our competitors.
[Nina exits]
A quiet harbour. A carriage is waiting. It is raining. Nina is holding a letter. Antoine enters.
Antoine: He can't and won't learn French. The doors and windows are open.
Nina: The old man and the old woman.
Antoine: What I ought to do is to learn all that I can. If he had not gone out, he would not have fallen.
Nina: Will you set the books on that shelf and set those papers in order?
Antoine: War is the worst thing that can happen. [pause] What women?
Nina: I sell paper to the woman.
Antoine: [self-consciously] They fell upon the wolf at once.
Nina: The bill falls due on the 15th inst. The old man has the flower.
Antoine: The poor man thinks it is his doctor.
[Marie enters]
[Antoine tosses a coin]
Nina: [pouring some beer] The brother and the sister sell. You set out.
Marie: My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
[Antoine crosses the stage]
Nina: [shuffling papers] The father and the mother of the captain. They wrote to each other often.
[Nina crosses the stage]
Antoine: A handsome boy, man, woman. He talked for an hour.
[Antoine exits]
Marie: I have not dared to do it for fear of displeasing my father.
Nina: I wonder if this is the engineer whose son is a lawyer. He is not the only one who is mistaken. [pause] The father, the mother, and the brother.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Nina: Do your brothers study French?
Marie: My friend and my brother's.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
[Elias enters]
Marie: [volubly] The brother and the sister love each other.
[Jan enters]
Jan: We love each other like brothers.
Marie: They have told each other some hard truths.
Jan: We cannot live without each other.
Marie: They have pleased each other.
Jan: I have a headache. I have the toothache.
[Jan pours some beer]
Elias: Have you any cure for toothache?
Jan: He has a pure accent.
Nina: She speaks to the sister.
Jan: [pouring some beer] Do not speak to me of it.
Nina: Do you speak Spanish?
Jan: No, but I am always seasick. You are seasick.
Marie: Not a man, not a woman has come to see me.
Jan: It always gives us great pleasure to see you. It gives me great pleasure.
Nina: I very nearly pledged myself to grant him the exclusive sale of my article. Please forward the enclosed letters to their address.
Marie: I have not dared to do it for fear of displeasing my father.
Nina: The enclosed pattern is rather poor. [pause] By next mail we shall send you all the details required.
Marie: [shuffling papers] The women for whom you make some purchases.
Nina: They are looking for some handkerchiefs.
Elias: They were in when I came there.
[Guiseppe enters]
Guiseppe: Were you ever there? I had rather die than disoblige you.
Elias: We were in their garden.
Guiseppe: When will you go into the country?
Elias: [shuffling papers] The printer was with him yesterday.
Nina: [weakly] We sent it to him yesterday.
Marie: I speak not to him. I speak not to them.
Nina: We do not want you to lose any money.
Guiseppe: You do nothing but laugh and play.
Nina: I do not drink beer but I like coffee and tea. I do not drink wine.
Guiseppe: I had much ado yesterday to persuade your brother to stay with me.
Nina: He would do well to write it to them.
Guiseppe: Do you remember the promise you made me yesterday? Yes, sir, I met with his uncle and three of his sisters.
Nina: Yes, they sold them yesterday; also the muslin and prints. He fears.
Guiseppe: Those that grieve them, purchase to themselves a curse.
[Elias walks to the front of the stage]
Nina: I acquainted them with all the facts, which made them very cautious.
Guiseppe: I received the books which my brother sent me. The books which I have seen you reading are not good. [pause] The water which you have recommended him to drink is not fit for him.
Nina: We beg to inform you that your order has been placed at your prices owing to the fall experienced in our market.
Guiseppe: Though books delight me very much, I ought to restore them to those whom they belong to. Though you were a king, I would not marry you.
Nina: [ingeniously] We strove hard to introduce the new brand and we have gained our point at last. As far as we are concerned, we have decided not to take any steps in the matter.
Marie: [drinking some beer] Whoever will be strong to encourage her husband and her sons to fight for the common country will be honored.
[Nina exits]
Elias: You have already been there, but my brother has not yet been.
Marie: I have seen but one person.
Jan: You have been imposed upon.
[Jan exits]
Guiseppe: I have been thirsty all day.
Marie: I have not seen him for a long time.
Guiseppe: I will not go there, unless you go along with me. I am going there, lest he should come. [turning to Elias] I was going to your house.
Elias: As it rains we shall drive home in a carriage.
Guiseppe: No, for I am sure while I am there, I shall have no time to read.
Elias: He took a rope with him in the boat. It was said in my presence.
Guiseppe: If you will come with me into the country, I will entertain you very well. A diligent boy is always learning, not only while the master is instructing, but also while other boys are playing.
Elias: [energetically] Within a short time he had lost all his property at cards. The sad girl.
Guiseppe: I am sure that when once you are there, you will not return so soon to town. I was assured that he is set out for his uncle's country-house. Your master has a fine country-house.
Elias: His brother-in-law would not engage to pay the account.
Guiseppe: When once you are there, your friends will not permit you to leave them so soon.
Elias: [shuffling papers] The printer was with him yesterday.
Guiseppe: I saw to-day the gentleman with whom we dined yesterday.
Elias: You have the book which I had yesterday.
Guiseppe: These are all the copies which you have given me to write.
Marie: The flowers which she has given me.
Elias: The seamstress was here today.
Marie: Of what you spoke yesterday has happened.
Elias: [polishing a coin] The general says that it was done yesterday.
[Marie pours some beer]
Guiseppe: Your brother came to see me yesterday as soon as you were gone.
Elias: I was at the theatre yesterday, it was Miss Lind's benefit.
Guiseppe: The wine which you drank yesterday was excellent.
Elias: The printer was with him yesterday.
Guiseppe: [polishing a coin] I saw to-day the gentleman with whom we dined yesterday.
Elias: [shuffling papers] You will be with me tomorrow. You have the book which I had yesterday.
Guiseppe: Do you remember the promise you made me yesterday? But it is a great grief to see them disagree.
[Marie crosses the stage]
Elias: No; that is only permitted in the smoking coupe.
Marie: It is folly to grieve at the success of other people.
Elias: I will stay longer another time.
Marie: Our flowers and theirs.
Elias: We were in their garden. The thunder struck the tree.
Guiseppe: Let us walk in the garden before dinner.
Elias: Let us go into the park. They had a party at Mr. S's.
Guiseppe: I long to go into the country, to settle a dispute that arose amongst my farmers.
Marie: He who does not obey the laws is not a good citizen.
Guiseppe: I will not go there, unless you go along with me. [turning to Elias] The water which you have recommended him to drink is not fit for him.
[Guiseppe walks to the edge of the stage]
Elias: You have already been there, but my brother has not yet been.
Guiseppe: I was assured that he is set out for his uncle's country-house.
An empty harbour. The sky is clear. A fire burns. Leaves blow across the stage. Quinn is examining a potato. Frieda is eating an apple. Jan is awakening from sleep.
Frieda: For the first time in his life he had to-day crept through a dark, narrow chimney.
Jan: The postman has brought me a letter.
Quinn: [eating a potato] The Rock team has got a goal.
[Frieda eats some bread]
Jan: The sun is coming out again. There is a cutting wind.
Quinn: This is certainly a beautiful wood. My goodness, have patience dad!
Jan: Certainly, you have passed. [pause] My kindest remembrances to your mother.
Quinn: I hope we shall have potatoes in abundance this year. [mockingly] I see they have John O'Hea as referee and there is no fear that John will do an injustice to either side.
Jan: To-day I wish to see the Royal Library, and the Royal Stables. I am very glad to have made his acquaintance.
Frieda: [poignantly] Yes, I have brought you an apple; the gardener gave it to me. He brought me the book, a circumstance which gives me much pleasure.
Jan: [eating some bread] In the afternoon I wish to see the Pinacothek and the Glyptothek. [adding some twigs to the fire] Take care!
Frieda: Give me your chunk of gold and take my horse. He received a big chunk of gold and started for home.
Quinn: [raspingly] Why are some of the poor animals tied up in that manner?
[Dominik enters]
Frieda: I have eaten the bread and drunk the water. Have you the bread and the water?
Quinn: A load of hay was being brought in from the field, and the cart was upset at the corner of the lane.
Frieda: Yes, I have brought you an apple; the gardener gave it to me.
Quinn: Bless my soul, you have got us on the buoy.
Frieda: No, I have not seen one. No, I have not lost it.
Jan: Who would have thought it? I should like to sleep here to night.
Frieda: I should be obliged. He sleeps instead of reading.
[Carla enters]
Carla: [discreetly] You should be at school by this time.
Quinn: [genially] You have just got it; it is a nickname.
Frieda: I have not looked for anything. I have looked for you and your brother.
[Guiseppe enters]
Jan: I have not eaten anything yet.
Carla: You have not taken care of the fire.
Jan: I have an appetite. I am very glad.
Guiseppe: [eating some bread] But I have been hitherto very idle.
Jan: I have no appetite. I have no notion of it.
Guiseppe: You have three horses, lend me one of them.
Jan: I have read the whole of this work.
Guiseppe: We have seen the chief curiosities.
[Frieda crosses the stage]
Dominik: You have won the game.
Quinn: They have got the ball into the goal now.
Guiseppe: I have seven brothers and two sisters alive.
Quinn: Do you see the two boats outside the wood? Let us get the spars under her.
Frieda: [quickly] No relatives of ours live here. His nephews were poor but they are so no longer.
[Frieda exits, never to return]
Quinn: It makes good warm litter, and wholesome food for horses.
Carla: It is an agreeable and wholesome drink. It is a British bark.
Quinn: His horse and driver met with a terrible accident the other day. Don't mind those people.
Guiseppe: England is adorned with the fairest ladies in the world.
Dominik: Every thing comes to an end in this world. Every thing is in order.
Guiseppe: There is nothing to fear in serving God.
Jan: [adding some twigs to the fire] There is nothing in it. There is no doubt of it.
[Carla exits]
Quinn: There is a fine ploughing team at work in the northern side of the field.
Dominik: They are anxiously looking forward to the result of the voting.
Quinn: [adding some twigs to the fire] They are easily broken on the hook.
[Isabella enters]
[everybody turns to look at Dominik]
Isabella: They are very glad of it. [to Jan] Must I seal the registered letter?
[Isabella exits]
Jan: I think it must be nearly three years.
Quinn: [disjointedly] Your food will be barnacles.
Jan: The heat is unbearable. That is admirable.
Quinn: There is heather in abundance there also.
A grimy railway station. A fire burns. The sky is clear outside. Leaves blow past the window. Karen is adjusting her dress. Jan and Nina stand at the door.
Nina: Do you like your employer? I will ask her to come to see you at once.
Karen: May I believe my eyes. The wind howls.
Nina: [doggedly] My mother lives here with us. The mother loves her son.
Karen: No Royal person lives there for it is the Academy of fine arts. Not so expensive as at the sea-side in England.
Nina: If you learn English, it will be of great help to you in this country.
Karen: [inelegantly] Then you have learnt the language before your arrival in this country. [turning to Jan] Certainly, but only for six weeks.
[Guiseppe enters]
Jan: With the best will in the world I cannot do it. Till another day.
Guiseppe: [heatedly] The best friend we can have is money. The righteous find peace but the wicked feel torment.
Jan: His friendship is very dear to me. It is very unpleasant to me.
Nina: Ask your mother to put clean underclothes on you.
Jan: I am very sorry but I cannot do it.
Guiseppe: On the contrary I am very warm, but I am tired.
Jan: I wish you a very pleasant journey. I wish you a pleasant journey Sir.
[Jan exits]
Karen: You have perhaps bought your experience. I often listened for instance to the words "skaviedde", "devejeegge", "lavær" to remember the pronunciation and look for the signification in the dictionaries, of course without finding them, till at last I have been obliged to consult the gentleman, I call my Danish teacher.
Guiseppe: Do not pretend ever to prosper in this world, if you have not the fear of God.
Karen: Better so than if I had to preach to the wind. But there is the reverse to the page, I find.
[Elias enters]
Elias: A Christian ought to act according to his great Master's doctrine. [sensually] A beautiful bridge.
Karen: We should like to go to bed early and beg you to let us have a good fire.
Elias: He has two rooms besides this floor.
Karen: He has a pain in his limbs. He has not the least trouble in this world.
Nina: It is against the law for him to work. [pause] I will send it to you.
[Elias stares into the fire]
Karen: It gives an idea of the luxury which once reigned in Denmark.
Nina: He is one of the finest in the country. She has the best room in the house.
Karen: As for the dress, it is a very becoming one. Relations are not always jealous of each other.
Nina: [hysterically] Our son is as strong as yours.
Elias: [selfishly] The sun is coming out. The wind is cold.
An empty forest. Leaves blow across the stage. Marie is carrying a hammer. Carla and Guiseppe arrive.
Carla: I cannot but take a great interest in everything that concerns you.
Marie: I hear the hammers striking the anvil. All my children.
Carla: You have given me a great deal of trouble.
Marie: Being less great is not being small. [pause] I receive but little of it.
Carla: There will be a great deal of company at our house to-night.
Marie: Whoever is born envious and bad is of course miserable.
Carla: Walking is a great enjoyment in the spring. It is full three years since he left his family.
[Helen, a stranger, enters]
[Carla cleans a hammer]
Marie: Do you know any one of these ladies, some of these gentlemen?
[Guiseppe cleans a hammer]
Carla: No. I was considering this drawing in Indian ink. He has always been good for nothing.
Helen: When your house was being built, my house had already been built a long time. I have a hundred apples.
Carla: If there is nothing broken, you will have it tomorrow. These spots will disappear by degrees.
Helen: [bewitchingly] Father is not reading a book, but he is writing a letter.
Marie: [pathetically] The striking hammers made the building tremble. Thou wast deceiving thyself.
[Helen approaches Marie]
Carla: [picking up a hammer] Shall I have the honour of dining with you tomorrow?
Guiseppe: His arm must procure him the honour which his heart wishes for.
Carla: I cannot tell what sort of weather it will be tomorrow.
Guiseppe: If you do not improve as well as others, it is not my fault.
Marie: [putting down a hammer] Not the least wind was felt.
Guiseppe: It is the finest weather in the world. [turning to Helen] One sees very seldom a child prosper in this world, who does not obey his father and mother.
Helen: [cloyingly] He departed with the firm resolve to leave for ever this ungrateful land.
Guiseppe: [insidiously] England is adorned with the fairest ladies in the world.
Helen: [putting down a hammer] His father and his brothers are in the garden.
[Helen exits]
Guiseppe: [whispering] My brother and sister are gone into the country. Her history has made a great noise in the world.
An untidy ruin. Otto is writing a letter. Guiseppe sits nearby.
Otto: What will you give me if I spin the straw for you this time also? Well, I am glad that you have got something really good this time.
Guiseppe: But I will not give you leave to go out till you have done your exercise.
Otto: I will give you time for three days.
Guiseppe: My mother is gone over to France for her health.
Otto: So they all looked at each other, but no one wanted to undertake the task. He had come intending to surprise me and he succeeded. I have gone into the most distinguished houses, and go yet.
Guiseppe: I had much ado to make peace with your mother, she was fully resolved not to forgive you, therefore take care for the future not to offend her any more. No, I gave it to my sister, and she will return it to you when she has read it.
Otto: Oh, you naughty boy, how angry your mother will be when she comes home!
Guiseppe: I am going there, lest he should come.
Otto: My father, however, said nothing.
Guiseppe: I wish I could see your sister, I would give her something that was sent to me for her. My brother is not like my father, who is of a mild disposition, and rich in the endowments that adorn the mind, though poor in estate.
Otto: But yesterday morning, when I went to church with mother, I wore it, and when we came home it was gone.
Guiseppe: I wish I could be reconciled with your brother, for he is an honest man.
Otto: I wish you would write the letter before going down town.
Guiseppe: Men should learn first the duties belonging to human nature.
Otto: A boy, standing on the shore, was, however, quicker and got the hat and gave it to the little girl, who, with beaming eyes, thanked him and ran away to her mother.
A sunless campfire. A fire burns. Carla and Elias approach each other.
Carla: We must resolve upon something.
Elias: Eat something. That is something new.
Carla: That is something strange! [pause] Here is a very bad fire.
Elias: That is nothing to us.
Carla: There is nothing to be seen. The remedy is worse than the disease.
[Elias walks toward Carla]
Elias: No, he said nothing when he went out. What is she about now?
Carla: All that is nothing but a joke. [pause] The flowers come in abundance.
Elias: Come nearer; I have something to tell you.
Carla: Have you got any thing to tell us?
Elias: [despondently] I have a great many things to do. [pause] It is a novelty to see you.
[Elias exits]
A well-kept field. Leaves blow across the stage. Ludwik and Carla approach each other.
Ludwik: There are twelve months in a year, and in most of the months of the year there are thirty-one days. The birds saw the fruit on the tree in front of them, and flew to the branches.
Carla: You may go and take a walk in the garden, but do not touch anything whatever. He is continually running from street to street.
Ludwik: The sparrow wished to fly as far as the tall tree, but the cat held it. The days are longer than the nights, and the weathercock shows west and south winds, instead of those disagreeable north and east winds.
Carla: [eating some fruit] I am going to call on your relations, and give them an account of your conduct.
Ludwik: They begin to fall from the branches and lie upon the ground.
Carla: The father and son died in the same year.
[Carla exits]
A secluded alleyway. It is night. Jan is awakening from sleep. Ludwik is awakening from sleep.
Jan: It is indifferent to me.
Ludwik: I said it to you. I said to myself.
Jan: [pouring some coffee] I am rejoiced to see you so well. I feel unwell.
Ludwik: You are not so cruel as he. Violets are not red.
Jan: I could not close my eyes the whole night long. I should like to sleep here to night.
Ludwik: We almost closed our eyes for the lightning.
Jan: The bed room is not light enough. The coffee is good.
Ludwik: The boys do not sleep, but they lie on the soft grass.
Jan: [overbearingly] This room does not please me, it is too dark.
Ludwik: He does not care about the book.
[Ludwik exits]
A litter-strewn ship at sea. A boat is waiting. It is raining. A horse stands downstage. Bjørn is examining a piece of beef. Quinn looks out to sea.
Quinn: [prosaically] The plant nearest to us is Foxglove (or Lady's Fingers), and the herb below it is called Lady's-mantle. The high plant to the inside of it is mullein. [pause] I expect there is a hive at the far side of the house.
Bjørn: Cats attach themselves to the house, and dogs to the person of their master. [pause] It is a fine evening.
Quinn: See the beautiful elms, and the horse-chestnuts with their abundant fruit.
Bjørn: The lion, the king of animals, is found in the hot countries of Africa and Asia.
Quinn: See, the brindled cow is trespassing in clover field. See, dad, the boat is leaking. I see the goat and the kids.
Bjørn: Take all these pins out of the paper, and stick them into the pincushion.
Quinn: [eating some beef] I dare say there is a net of some kind in that place. Jimmy the hens and Davy Brigid were fishing one day, and they saw a whale or some sea monster following them, as they thought themselves, and spouting water 20 feet high.
Bjørn: The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef. A cheesemonger is a dealer in butter and cheese. The London fog is a mixture of smoke and mist.
Quinn: [mightily] They are in the field where the cows are lying and chewing the cud. I often heard my father, God rest his soul, say that there used to be badgers below in that dark corner at the bottom of the wood, but I never saw a badger nor a badger warren.
Bjørn: The garrets are rooms at the top of the house in which the servants sleep.
Quinn: There are numbers of pretty shells to be found on the sands. They will shortly have it made into cocks and saved, seeing how dry the weather is.
Bjørn: The fox is thought to be one of the most cunning of the four-footed race.
Quinn: That brings to my mind the story of the cat that was fishing on the dry strand.
Bjørn: I inquired for the master of the house and was shown into the parlor. Take all these pins out of the paper, and stick them into the pincushion. There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year.
Quinn: I fancy the wind is changing to the north, and that the evening will be fine and calm and pleasant.
Bjørn: [morosely] The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef.
Quinn: [eating some beef] The evening will be fine and calm and pleasant, please God.
Bjørn: [eating some beef] The present dry weather will be good for the harvest.
Quinn: I dare say they will be drawing it into the haggart next week. I dare say it was a "keening" woman that composed that pretty poem.
Bjørn: There is no more conflict, only the calm of universal peace. How vexatious!
Quinn: Take care, Tim, do not walk on the seaweed.
Bjørn: It did not rain yesterday.
Quinn: I broke the wheel of the fishing rod yesterday.
Bjørn: Will you put on the boots or the shoes? [pause] I have heard nothing.
[Quinn eats some beef]
Quinn: [removing a boot] Wait till we put out the plank for you.
[Quinn exits, never to return]
A quiet field. Leaves blow across the stage. It is raining. Nina is coughing. Isabella is examining some coins. Karen is counting out money.
Karen: And I know that he is not the only man who remembers, that charity begins at home. I know, it is Nr. 14; but the gentleman there must learn to wait. Do you know, that my brother has bought an estate?
Nina: Yes, my brother is here.
Karen: You know, he is your friend, if his behaviour has even been odd.
Nina: [lighting a lantern] My poor sister has been ill for two days. They will give him dinner there in the middle of the day.
[Isabella tosses a coin]
Karen: [quickly] He looks so very delicate, as if he would not live to see another summer.
Nina: They will be sick, if they are not kept clean.
Karen: The English Chapel we know, it is 21 Stormgade.
Nina: [looking at the clock] The house which I have seen is large.
Karen: The one which you know.
Nina: What is the name of the institution to which he has been sent?
[Antoine enters]
Isabella: Yes, Sir, there is the green ’bus which runs along the embankment.
Nina: Please save some of the sputum which you cough up in the morning.
Isabella: I have some fine French cambric which is not dear. She does not know which way to turn.
Nina: She does not know how to sew. No, I do not know how to read.
Antoine: The king did not know which country to attack first.
Nina: [lighting a lantern] This settlement is not connected with any one church. She cannot breathe with so many people near her.
Isabella: I likewise know the coins, weights and measures of the countries in which I have travelled. A landscape forms the background to the figures in that picture.
Karen: I was in the company of two ladies, as you passed by, which of them do you mean? It is a love which costs no money.
Antoine: The uncle saw which way the wind blew. The cow which I am selling.
Karen: It gives an idea of the luxury which once reigned in Denmark. [pause] I know some few.
Antoine: There are the melons which I received.
Nina: Night air is just as pure as that which you breathe in the day time.
Antoine: It is important that you eat at the usual time.
Nina: It is best to keep food covered all the time. Is he to take all these things?
Isabella: I have to take my sister to the theatre.
Nina: You can take him yourself to the hospital.
Antoine: I am going to make him pay for it. I am going to take you to my house.
Nina: We are going to have some magic lantern pictures and music. We are going to have a Mothers' Meeting today at four o'clock.
[Carla enters]
Antoine: [coughing] I am going to have it made by the tailor.
Nina: It is all "going down hill".
Isabella: [proudly] Now I am going to sleep.
Nina: The dynamite is going off. That is too low.
Isabella: It is going to rain.
Nina: [coughing] We are going to Paris. Are you going to have a midwife?
Antoine: [spuriously] I am going to have a coat made for me. She is going to have a dress made.
Nina: No, I am trying to get something that pays better.
Antoine: [unhurriedly] They are going to have this street paved.
Nina: They are kind to animals. There is no time to lose. [turning to Isabella] There is less gold than silver.
Isabella: Tell me the time the train for... is going to start. [to Antoine] Come back quickly.
Antoine: [vigilantly] Our mules are going to get into the house, says the doctor.
Isabella: We are going to order from the bill of fare.
Antoine: [raffishly] I am going to have it made by the tailor.
Carla: It is going to rain.
Isabella: I was going to church. [pause] Send me all these articles.
An empty dock. A cab is waiting. Bjørn is pouring a mug of coffee. Elias sits nearby.
Bjørn: Your tickets, please. No, give me coffee, please.
Elias: Some people believe such fables.
Bjørn: You may believe me.
Elias: [pouring some coffee] How many shares have you?
Bjørn: [eating some cake] We row against the waves. Let us go down into the cabin. Let us go to the play.
Elias: What is the name of that pretty church on the right?
[Helen enters]
Bjørn: The lily is the emblem of purity and innocence, the violet of modesty. I can assure you.
Elias: I only stay here over night, and leave to morrow early.
Bjørn: I will try if it be true that such a bird can live two hundred years.
Helen: [eating some cake] I drank tea, with cake and jam. I lived with her father.
Bjørn: I am sorry to hear that your sister is ill.
Elias: She is not up to her sister in French. The highest price.
Bjørn: [eating a cake] You have not brought the worsted of the right color. Answer me!
Helen: I divested the child of his night clothes, and stood him in the tub.
Elias: What is the name of that pretty estate on the left?
Helen: What lives must of necessity some time die. The sailors must obey the captain.
Elias: One must not expect too much from children. It is later than I thought.
Helen: [pouring some coffee] Of all my children, Ernest is the youngest. None of them was so full of desires as the youngest girl.
Elias: [eating a cake] My eldest daughter is younger than his youngest son.
[Antoine enters]
Antoine: [modestly] The lawyer's daughter, who is here, is ill.
Elias: The mother has punished her child.
Antoine: She was astonished to see him.
Elias: I think he is gone to see his sister.
[Elias exits, never to return]
Bjørn: The London fog is a mixture of smoke and mist. Which do you like best, tea, coffee, or chocolate?
Antoine: [oddly] The doctor, frightened, comes in to chase out his mule.
Bjørn: That old man has lost his son.
Antoine: The man whose son I know. The man whose son is dead.
[Helen crosses the stage]
Helen: Fetch the doctor, for I am ill.
[Nina enters]
Antoine: [eating a cake] Which of the letters did you mail? It is an important matter.
Helen: The father is a tailor. The father is good.
Antoine: [critically] The father and his sons are tall. [pause] A charming woman.
Helen: His father and his brothers are in the garden. A father and a mother together are named parents.
Antoine: He did not receive the order to depart.
[Ludwik enters]
Nina: [joyfully] He may not recover if he does not go.
Ludwik: How is your health, Madam?
Nina: He is sick. Who is sick?
Ludwik: He is seeing.
[Bjørn exits]
Helen: He is sick unto death.
[Helen exits, never to return]
Nina: He has two teeth.
Ludwik: He has seen. I had seen.
Antoine: He has stopped singing.
[Antoine exits]
A quiet churchyard. A horse stands downstage. Leaves blow across the stage. The sky is clear. Karen is examining a gun. Dominik is carrying a portmanteau.
Karen: And so am I. And so he is. The sun shines.
Dominik: [disapprovingly] The sun shines brightly. The wind blows high.
Karen: The singers of the forest.
Dominik: [high-mindedly] He shines in the company of ladies. No, you are to bring me back again.
Karen: [jealously] The Holm's church is the Sailor's church, I think.
Dominik: [reloading the gun] The soles are too thin.
Karen: The horse takes rest. The young gentleman's gun.
Dominik: [morosely] The portmanteau must be taken to the custom house and examined.
[Karen begins to unpack a suitcase]
Karen: Our luggage will be examined in the custom-house, I suppose.
Dominik: Well, then I wish you safe home.
[Dominik exits]
A leafy field. A horse stands downstage. Dominik and Ludwik walk together.
Ludwik: Yes, they see the horses, but the horses seem not to see the girls.
Dominik: [airily] He does not see further than his nose. We have not seen you at home this age.
Ludwik: She does not wish to have to do that. The boy wishes to have a horse.
Dominik: Yes Sir, it is shown to every one who wishes to see it.
[Dominik sits next to Ludwik]
Ludwik: The longer the walk is, the sooner one wishes to rest. They loved the little boy, and wished to help him.
Dominik: The trees begin to be decked with leaves and blossoms.
[Ludwik exits]
A bright garden. The sky is clear. Isabella is pouring a mug of coffee. Marie is nearby.
Marie: Dost thou not receive her? Pupils not studying can never succeed.
Isabella: At that marble house. At that brick house.
Marie: At home in one's house. He shall have been.
[Nina enters]
Isabella: The year one thousand nine hundred and fifteen. Thanks, but I prefer my coffee without milk.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his.
Isabella: [treacherously] This is quite astonishing!
Marie: [steadily] Thou wast speaking. Thou hast spoken.
Isabella: Without more ado. [drinking some coffee] The hatred of that man is less dangerous than you think.
Nina: He signed the documents without even reading them, so upset was he by the news the mail had just brought him.
Isabella: [shuffling papers] Very easily, and without injuring the mounting.
[Nina drinks some coffee]
Nina: The teeth and the tongue are inside the mouth. The father and the mother of the captain.
Isabella: Is it true that in England the sun is invisible during a quarter of the year?
Nina: Write clearly so that people may read your writing without difficulty. We forward you the papers relating to the Arbitrator's award.
Marie: He called on his teacher in order to obtain his pardon.
Isabella: I will give you £3 a month, without board.
Marie: My wife and my neighbor's. Have I not been it?
[Marie exits]
Nina: I am very sorry but it is not my fault.
Isabella: Thanks, but I prefer my coffee without milk.
Nina: [shuffling papers] If we want to withdraw the goods without producing a B/L. we shall have to sign an indemnity. Put him in the way of conducting his business without depending on outward assistance.
Isabella: I like tea without sugar.
Nina: We shall have to take in the hosiery although it is slightly overdue. He will return it to us after he has read it.
Isabella: I will give you £3 a month, without board.
Nina: He says that he will not give it to me until you tell him to do so.
[Isabella exits]
A dimly-lit garden. It is raining. Otto is holding an old book. Carla and Dominik arrive.
Dominik: Let us go and take a little fresh air. [to Carla] A word escaped him.
[Karen enters]
Carla: There is fresh butter. They are good, and very fresh.
Otto: [polishing a coin] I would like some strawberries, if you have nice fresh ones. I hope the woman got off more easily!
[Ludwik enters]
Carla: I prefer a fresh cod. I now have all I want.
Otto: However, the doctor says he will soon be well.
Carla: He is not as rich as he is said to be. He is not ashamed of his conduct.
Karen: He has not the least trouble in this world.
Carla: This is the finest village in the country.
[Carla exits]
Karen: [solemnly] You know this is the main island. I think the motion is less.
Dominik: How old do you think my uncle is? I did not think it was so late. I did not think she was so old.
Karen: I thank you very much. [pause] The first and most important of the public collections and Museums in Copenhagen, Thorvaldsen's Museum, we shall be able to find without a guide, as it is situated behind the Royal chapel.
[a light rain falls]
Dominik: The father does so, because he will not part with his property before his death.
Otto: Our rejoicing at seeing each other was great, as you may guess, for we had not met for many years. One must no longer spend the time in boyish dreams after twenty years of age, you know. [turning to Ludwik] And yet we are told in old books of travel that this was the case years ago in Basel.
Ludwik: They printed books in their printing-shops, a thousand years ago.
Otto: I have spent a good deal of money this year.
[Ludwik crosses the stage]
Karen: Relations are not always jealous of each other.
Otto: That is no place for her. That idea can be entertained. In German or in English?
Karen: The world is busy. Meanwhile I request you to give me shelter during this shower.
[Antoine enters]
Otto: Now set to work, and if by to-morrow morning early you have not spun this straw into gold during the night, you must die.
Ludwik: The young man was very sly, and wished to sleep during the night.
Otto: [quaveringly] They were very glad to see their mother again.
Antoine: They are mounted on their mules. They have washed their hands. They have washed themselves.
[a light rain falls]
Karen: They are, and the girls are rather pretty.
Dominik: The terms of the lease are arranged.
Karen: Where shall you stay during the summer? Your father will soon be back, I hope?
Dominik: It will soon be night.
Karen: [clinically] Well, I think we will go to the Phoenix.
A quiet street. Carla is examining some money. Marie is examining a book. Antoine sits nearby.
Marie: Half an hour. Our flowers and theirs. Your garden and mine.
Carla: I am very glad to see you in good health. The days are decreasing.
Antoine: He wouldn't have gone to see the servant.
Carla: We could not have walked faster. [pause] I hope you will soon get over it.
Marie: Which one is the least difficult of your lessons?
Carla: It is the most pleasant of all seasons. It is useless to fall into a passion.
Marie: Any work is useless unless well done.
Carla: This house is well situated. This house has a fine prospect.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his.
Carla: [loftily] Here is your money, and my address.
Marie: Here is my book. Let him be.
Antoine: Where is your father? Here is my son.
Marie: He seeks to injure me with my uncle. I have spoken it.
Carla: He acquainted nobody in the world with his project.
[Marie walks to the back of the stage]
Antoine: He was in the best humor in the world.
Marie: [examining a coin] The brother and the sister love each other.
Antoine: The bearer of the letter gives it to her.
Marie: The letters which I have written.
Antoine: The lady to whose son I was writing.
Marie: The ladies whom he has known. The books which you have lent me. [pause] He should have been.
Carla: The ladies after whom you inquire, are gone to France. [turning to Antoine] What is that good for?
Antoine: This painter whose uncle I am is a famous man.
Marie: Who is not for me is against me.
Carla: It is easy for you to say so.
[Carla crosses the stage]
Marie: I speak of the parents whose child was drowned yesterday.
Antoine: There is the man with whose uncle I was walking.
Marie: It is a man such as you want.
Carla: I like it as much as I do summer.
[Carla exits]
Antoine: The man whose son is dead.
Marie: The flowers which she has given me. I should be.
Antoine: The coachman whose horse you saw didn't like the picture. The man whose son I know. [examining a coin] The lady to whose son I was writing.
Marie: He who does not obey the laws is not a good citizen.
A dimly-lit campsite. A fire burns. It is night. Bjørn and Nina stand together.
Bjørn: Give my kind regards to your father.
Nina: Are you going to Spain this year? The net profits of this year show an increase of £1,000.
[Ludwik enters]
Ludwik: [craftily] The man going to depart called his servant.
Nina: Give him notice of the sales you effected on his account.
Ludwik: There is no wine in his glass.
Bjørn: Give me the bill of fare.
[Ludwik sits next to Bjørn]
Ludwik: From now he will be careful.
Bjørn: [putting down a pen] Perhaps the sky will clear. [pause] If you are going out, buy me some thread of different sorts, some cotton, and some common black worsted.
Nina: See to the fire, it is going out, poke it a little and add some coal.
Ludwik: Do the girls like to sit in the house and eat fruit?
Bjørn: [giddily] The bear lives in the mountains and woods.
Nina: Who has the ink and a pen?
[Nina exits]
Ludwik: I heard him with interest and pleasure. He tells such stories with great pleasure. He took it with the greatest care.
[Otto enters]
Bjørn: [sceptically] He has a thorough knowledge of the English language.
Ludwik: He is said to be on the street.
Bjørn: Her cap is made of the finest Brussels lace. Go on!
Ludwik: The house is long and high, and the rooms in the house are large.
Bjørn: The small sheets are note-paper, and the large ones are writing-paper.
[Otto walks toward Ludwik]
Ludwik: The boys are not in their house, but they are in his.
[Ludwik exits]
Bjørn: Here are still some spots I could not get them out, they are ink stains. The present dry weather will be good for the harvest. I think so, they will be in our way in the theater.
Otto: It calls you at night three times at fixed hours, and when it calls for the last time the sun soon rises.
Bjørn: Her cap is made of the finest Brussels lace. [pause] They said I should stay with them.
Otto: Well, that is often the case you know in summer.
Bjørn: Make hay while the sun shines. Strike while the iron is hot.
A quiet bridge. A dog barks. The sky is clear. Isabella is lighting a lamp. Antoine and Bjørn arrive.
Isabella: We shall be very pleased to see you.
Antoine: I shall see the doctor later. I shall have to go to-morrow.
Bjørn: I shall be at your service presently.
Antoine: I found some burglars at my house last night.
Isabella: I cannot promise it you before a fortnight. It has not gone for a fortnight.
Antoine: As soon as I have finished, I shall go and speak to him. When you finish I shall have given the signal to attack. I shall take-care not to fall.
Isabella: [lighting a lamp] It is not so bad as that, but there are days, especially in November and February, when we cannot see the sun, nor even the lamps in the streets for the fog.
Antoine: [lighting a lamp] As soon as I arrive, I shall tell him to start on his way. If I succeed, I will have the honors of the day.
[Bjørn exits]
Isabella: [blankly] At what time do you wish to get up tomorrow? Where are you going?
Antoine: They are good dogs. They are mounted on their mules.
Isabella: [lighting a lamp] I shall go to bed early. Can you write?
[Isabella exits]
Antoine: I shall see the doctor later. I shall be at the queen's castle.
A peaceful ruin. Jan is sorting coins. Dominik is reading a book. Ludwik sits nearby.
Ludwik: Secondly, in the second place.
[Ludwik exits]
Jan: To pay in the same coin. Two places in the stranger's box.
Dominik: To say the same thing with other words.
Jan: I am shivering with the cold.
Dominik: I am weary with holding in.
Jan: I am benumbed with cold.
[Jan tosses a coin]
Dominik: I am shivering with cold.
Jan: I am reading the newspaper.
[Dominik tosses a coin]
Dominik: You are always poring upon your books. That is the rest.
Jan: I read it in the newspapers.
Dominik: I wish to purchase some books. He has been beating the hoof all day.
Jan: [polishing a coin] That pleases me exceedingly.
Dominik: That is contrary to decency. The castle is going to decay. Let us hear, what he is going to say.
Jan: [jeeringly] Have you read the newspapers? All the newspapers speak of it.
Dominik: You have disordered my books.
Jan: I have a sore throat. [pause] Good bye.
[Jan exits]
A deserted field. Smoke is in the air. Leaves blow across the stage. A fire burns. Nina is leafing through a book. Isabella arrives.
Nina: [adding some twigs to the fire] Writing it to-day you are in time for the post. It is they who must indemnify us for the loss.
Nina: Be careful that they eat only ripe fruit. Be careful where you step.
Isabella: Here are very beautiful clocks. That is very wrong of you.
Nina: [piteously] What a beautiful rose! [pause] I would gladly accede to your request if it were in my power.
Isabella: I will pay you when you bring everything you have to make for me.
Nina: No matter what he will say I am sure he will have to pay.
[Ludwik enters]
Isabella: [looking at the clock] If you will give me a castle, I will try another game.
Nina: I shall make out a list of my book debts.
Isabella: You have made a great deal of progress. There is always a great deal of dust.
Nina: We have just heard of his approaching visit to England.
Ludwik: She will be careful of that hat.
Isabella: You have not taken care of the fire.
Ludwik: The cat ran across the street. [pause] During the next twenty minutes I shall not be busy.
Nina: Test the heat with your elbow to be sure that the water is not too hot. No, they stick so that we cannot open them.
Ludwik: [musingly] One can see that the weathercock points out the winds.
[Nina glances at Isabella]
Nina: Yes, our chimney always smokes. We shall invoice by next mail your glassware and haberdashery.
Isabella: You have almost smothered the fire. [brazenly] Which is the departure platform?
Nina: It is the best place for him.
Isabella: The fire begins to blaze. Now the fire is very good. It is very-hot.
Nina: Taste it to make sure it is right. Make sure you do it right.
Nina: We want to study Spanish because it is very necessary in commerce.
Nina: Pastry, hot bread and fresh bread are very bad for children.
Ludwik: The large red apples are near the yellow roses. The large yellow apple.
Nina: They will give him dinner there in the middle of the day. They will give him ether.
Ludwik: [eating some fruit] Syracuse was the largest city on the island of Sicily. The rooms in the house are light, because they have large wide windows.
[Isabella eats some fruit]
Nina: Do you know the names of the different plants and the care that each requires?
Ludwik: No, he shakes the branch, and the apples fall.
[Dominik enters]
Nina: The father, the mother, and the brother.
Ludwik: The boy with that man is his brother. The boy wishes to have a horse. The men have strong black horses.
Isabella: If there is nothing broken you shall have it to-morrow. [turning to Dominik] Well begun is half done.
Dominik: [cheerily] The first steamer goes to-morrow morning at six o'clock precisely.
Isabella: [happily] Cherries and strawberries are now in their prime.
Dominik: The standard pear and apple trees bore no fruit this year.
[Isabella crosses the stage]
Isabella: Bring a plate, and a knife and fork for this gentleman.
[Isabella exits]
Nina: [disparagingly] It spreads disease, and is dangerous, indecent and against the law.
Nina: The roses and violets are in the flower-stand. The cylinders and boilers are now ready.
Nina: The doctors and nurses will give him the best of care.
Nina: Weavers and spinners are all holding up their prices.
Nina: Some foods are much more nourishing than others.
Nina: Yes, they are cleaned every morning by the servants.
Nina: Is there water in the cellar?
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
Dominik: Her father begins to dote.
Nina: Order them to do it quickly.
Dominik: He wishes to protract it still. [looking at the clock] He was ordered to sit down on one of the benches.
[everybody turns to look at Dominik]
Nina: He resorted to extreme means in order to bring about a solution of the difficulty.
Dominik: It is not the intention of the founder. I cannot walk in them.
Nina: In the past year the climax of prosperity was reached.
Nina: Is anything the matter with him now?
Nina: No matter what he will say I am sure he will have to pay. [to Ludwik] Take that chair there and make yourself comfortable.
Ludwik: [inelegantly] So the judges condemned him to death by the drinking of poison. Archimedes assured the king that he would find out somehow about the matter.
Nina: I am going to attend to several trifling matters which however want looking after. After writing you by last mail we are informed by the maker of the Brown Linens that he will be able to book your order which will be delivered before the end of next month.
Dominik: Passing by I wished to be informed of your health and to present my respects.
Nina: It is I who shall leave for Paris now that the matter is arranged.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Nina: What is the matter with you?
Ludwik: I shall consider the matter.
Nina: What is the matter?
Ludwik: The boy is near me. The good boy is walking. [pause] The large book is mine.
Nina: Whenever I decided on a thing, I have always acted on my decision.
Ludwik: [eating some fruit] The story about the debasing of the gold crowns has already been told.
Nina: [valorously] We sent it to him yesterday. She speaks to the sister.
Dominik: [looking at the clock] He expired yesterday. He paid me a visit yesterday.
Nina: How many doses did you give him today? We will send you a ton of coal today.
Dominik: F I can be of any use to you, give me your commands.
Ludwik: If he came yesterday, he will go away tomorrow.
Dominik: [eating some fruit] There is nothing interesting today.
Nina: There is nothing beautiful here.
Dominik: There is no living with him. To lie under the canopy of heaven.
Nina: [pessimistically] The iron-clad "Achilles" left yesterday for Vigo. This sample looks very nice for an imitation.
Ludwik: Finally he recognized that force which is called gravitation.
[Jan enters]
Nina: All the old issues were called in.
Jan: [perplexedly] It is mild weather today. Is there anything new today?
Nina: Yes, they sold them yesterday; also the muslin and prints. Please forward the enclosed letters to their address.
Ludwik: So neither he nor the Greeks could enjoy the result of their efforts. The father and son could not even guard their horses.
Nina: Did you receive the B/L for the cargo of oranges and grapes from Seville?
Ludwik: No, he shakes the branch, and the apples fall.
Nina: The brother and the sister sell.
Ludwik: The boys hid them. The books lie here. [picking up a knife] The book of the boy.
Nina: The estimate and the sketches attached reached us just in time.
Ludwik: But he escaped, and the Swiss congratulated each other heartily.
Nina: [insultingly] The father and the mother of the captain. [pause] He insisted until he paid him something and now he will continue to insist until he pays him something more.
Ludwik: [euphemistically] The foolish friends of the young man and his aged father did not stay with them.
Nina: [putting down a knife] The news from the East produced a bad effect on the market.
Ludwik: The letter was from the boy's mother. They give the fruit to the boys and girls.
Nina: There are as many boys as girls. There are only two windows.
Jan: The trees are beginning to bud, they will soon blossom.
Nina: The streets are worse than the sidewalks.
Jan: He is as poor as a church mouse.
Nina: The windows and doors are clean. The law of supply and demand governs the markets of the world.
Jan: [bitterly] You will find your passport at the police office, send for it there.
An untidy beach. Leaves blow across the stage. Bjørn is winding a clock. Dominik enters.
Bjørn: He was now in a woeful plight. He was very sick.
Dominik: He will not die in an old skin.
Bjørn: We will not see him.
[Isabella enters]
Dominik: It is not wound up. He is not to be found out.
Bjørn: I have not been able to come before 5 o'clock. To be obliged to, to be forced.
Dominik: Do not fear, he will soon recover his health.
Isabella: We don't know the value of health till we have lost it.
Bjørn: On the evening of the 29th a strong wind arose. Among the principal causes of disease may be mentioned unwholesome food and drinks, and an unhealthy climate.
Isabella: I hope he is not seriously ill. He enjoys excellent health, and does not know what sickness is.
Bjørn: [ebulliently] To wear tight stays must be injurious to the health.
Isabella: I speak it just enough to make myself understood.
Bjørn: I can speak a little, but I cannot write it. The year 1900 was not a leap-year.
Isabella: [firmly] I will take it, but you must have it bound in Russia leather.
[Isabella exits]
Bjørn: Your mother will tell you, my son.
Dominik: You will lose your toil. I will follow you.
[Dominik exits]
A bright wasteland. Ludwik is eating an apple. Marie enters.
Marie: Do I speak of it? Do I speak to him.
Ludwik: Good apples are on it. [pause] You say to yourself.
Marie: You are ungrateful toward us. I have not spoken to him.
Ludwik: It will be well for you not to mention him any more. It would be well to keep your own.
Marie: I have not seen him for a long time.
[Marie exits]
A sunny railway platform. Carla is wearing a dress. Isabella sits nearby.
Carla: The publication of that history added nothing to his reputation.
Isabella: Is there any collection of paintings in this town?
Carla: I have read sixteen pages this morning.
Isabella: I am a little better this morning.
Carla: [dementedly] I have run the whole morning.
Isabella: I am glad you have come this morning.
Carla: You have neglected your dress this morning.
[Carla exits]
A peaceful bridge. Nina is holding a newspaper.
Nina: If you wish me to do business with your good selves you must put me on the best possible terms.
Nina: The doctors and nurses will give him the best of care. I see the boys and tell them the news.
Nina: I regret having left the newspapers at the workshop, but I shall send for them.
Nina: Have you put a notice in the newspaper, stating that you want work?
[Nina crosses the stage]
Nina: Yes, he has much paper but little ink.
Nina: [coldly] Yes, he has always been like that. You are wrong.
[Nina exits]
A bright street. A cab is waiting. It is snowing. A bell rings. Dominik is counting out money. Karen climbs down from a cab. Marie sits nearby.
Marie: You should be.
Dominik: It snows.
Marie: It is goodness itself. Thou wast.
Dominik: A kindness is never lost. Why do you waste your money so?
Marie: My friend and my brother's. They have injured each other.
Dominik: His brother's services have cured him of that reward.
[Marie tosses a coin]
Marie: Thou wast deceiving thyself.
Dominik: [victoriously] One should always encourage rising talents.
[Dominik tosses a coin]
Marie: He was deceiving himself. He did deceive himself.
Karen: However it is bad enough to deceive any one with.
Marie: Even the wisest deceive themselves. [pause] Thou didst deceive thyself.
[Jan enters]
Karen: Now the steamer stops; do you hear they are letting off the steam. The sound of the bell.
Marie: I hear the hammers striking the anvil. I hear vociferating people in the street.
[snow falls]
Karen: But there is the reverse to the page, I find. The cabs, or Droshkies as you call them, are generally spacious and clean, if not quick, we have tried them from several cabstands.
Marie: At the price of his honor he has capitulated.
Jan: I will not hear of it. I will not do it.
[Marie exits]
Karen: Well, then you will never be unhorsed.
Jan: [overbearingly] Winter will soon be here. I do not feel very well.
A bright path. The sky is clear. A fire burns. Nina and Bjørn approach each other.
Bjørn: [adding some twigs to the fire] If you go out today I wish you would buy me two pair of silk stockings. [pause] I am thirsty.
Nina: To begin with you would have to engage the cloth to us. The bill falls due on the 15th inst.
[Dominik enters]
Bjørn: I have been permitted to do it, but I have been unwilling to do it. I have been compelled to do it, though I was very unwilling to it.
Dominik: [adding some twigs to the fire] When you have done with this, you must make out the bill for Mr. O. [pause] Remove this bottle.
Bjørn: [adding a log to the fire] There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year.
[Nina enters]
Dominik: The vine and hop cleave to the poles and trees. [unabashedly] Put on the drag, coachman, and go slowly on.
Nina: [glaringly] I can have you arrested for not sending him, and you will be made to pay a fine.
Nina: Come here, my friend, and listen to me.
Nina: Where does your married daughter live?
[Guiseppe enters]
Guiseppe: They talk of it all over the island.
Nina: The mother loves her son. The girls have gone.
Dominik: The motion was put to the vote. I shall set out to-morrow for the country. He has just entered the world.
Nina: He is one of the finest in the country.
Dominik: Out of the frying-pan into the fire. I have cannoned.
Bjørn: [adding some twigs to the fire] Put this poor fellow out into the street!
Nina: The bill falls due on the 15th inst. The brother and the sister sell. The father and the mother of the captain.
Bjørn: On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings.
[Bjørn exits]
Guiseppe: [assertively] And it greatly concerns boys to imitate their master's virtues.
Dominik: I come to take leave of you and to offer my services.
Guiseppe: If you will come with me into the country, I will entertain you very well.
[Guiseppe exits]
[Nina walks to the edge of the stage]
Nina: [staring into the fire] They will reach you in plenty of time for the coming season. They have been asleep for many years but now they are wide awake to the necessity of adopting up-to-date methods and adapting themselves to the requirements of the consumers.
Dominik: They are anxiously looking forward to the result of the voting. That deprives it of its gravity.
Nina: They await the result of the inquiry.
[Dominik crosses the stage]
Dominik: They have destroyed the works of the besiegers.
Nina: [adding some twigs to the fire] They placed all their trust in their agent.
A small churchyard. A wagon is waiting. Carla is slicing an apple. Nina enters.
Nina: Why don't you try Dr. B.? I won't hurt you.
Carla: [solemnly] Buy a shad.
Nina: Push hard. Shove hard.
Carla: [eating some bread] Thou hadst had bread. They had had apples.
[Nina crosses the stage]
Nina: Put your hand where it hurts you.
Carla: [evasively] I will hinder him from hurting you. You will hurt him more than you think. I will wait upon you with out fail.
Nina: It is not right to let her grow up like that, if something can be done for her.
[Karen enters]
Karen: [hoarsely] You are right, quite right. And the renowned linguist is quite right.
Nina: To do so is not right.
Karen: And you are right. All right.
Nina: All right! Turn it to the right.
Karen: [eating some bread] People, whose hope is on the earth.
Nina: Keep him in the air.
Karen: Peace of the heart.
Nina: [knowingly] Load up the car.
Karen: [waggishly] So they are! With pleasure! [pause] With pleasure.
Nina: [eating some bread] At the bottom of the page you will see what I mean.
Karen: [eating some bread] But there is the reverse to the page, I find.
Nina: Harness the horse to the yellow wagon. [to Carla] In what parish was he christened?
Carla: [eating some bread] Do not forget to carry that letter to the post-office.
Nina: You can get work that will pay you better. You talk more than you act.
Carla: I never take more than one cup.
Karen: [apologetically] I know no more than I told you.
A secluded public park. It is raining. Otto is adjusting a clock. Bjørn enters.
Bjørn: I hardly believe what the report says.
Otto: I do really believe he would.
Bjørn: You did not believe me. You may believe me.
Otto: I do not know how I got out of the house.
Bjørn: I do not know what to do. I don't know whether it is right or wrong.
Otto: Now you know that does not agree with me.
Bjørn: He has not seen you.
Otto: The hay has been found.
Bjørn: She always has the last word.
Otto: I was out in the rain.
[Otto crosses the stage]
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] How is the weather? [pause] We are sufficiently supplied with food and clothing.
Otto: Here is the tin soldier. He said he was sick.
Bjørn: [snappishly] Here is a letter for you, sir. We had been.
Otto: It is reported that a burglar once came to the house of the famous savant Afolieres, who was in the habit of retiring early. So he at once set the clock so that it would strike two.
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] The lion, the king of animals, is found in the hot countries of Africa and Asia. He said nothing to me.
A well-tended field. It is snowing. Ludwik and Carla walk together.
Ludwik: Many persons can not cook well enough.
Carla: [pleadingly] Upon the whole, I like him well enough.
Ludwik: Alfred won the book which his mother had bought.
Carla: And for the day after leg of mutton.
Ludwik: Nothing is impossible, whenever one tries enough. The children built a house of snow.
Carla: This size pleases me well enough. This water is not warm enough.
Ludwik: It is difficult in every way to select a present for a child who already possesses enough toys. No one of you understands me.
[Ludwik exits]
A secluded forest. Leaves blow across the stage. Nina is coughing. Jan is awakening from sleep. Carla is nearby.
Nina: Don't neglect a cold or a cough, but go to a doctor or a dispensary.
[Jan tosses a coin]
Jan: It is very cold for this time of the year.
Nina: It is against the law for him to work.
Carla: Let us go another way to work.
Nina: It is against the law for him to work until he is fourteen. [pause] Can you do anything else?
Carla: [mournfully] You must begin that work to-day, or else you cannot finish it in time. [to Jan] Should they be lame?
Jan: I do not like the dinner.
Carla: I should like to read Moliere's works.
Jan: I should like to sleep here to night.
Nina: I should like to see you. I should like to, if possible.
Jan: I should like to taste a piece of that pudding. We are going afterwards to Amsterdam, in autumn to Leiden, and then via Utrecht to Rotterdam to pass the winter there.
Nina: He should have a diet of cereals, eggs and plenty of milk.
Jan: I have read the whole of this work.
Nina: [shamefacedly] Besides you pay more than double what it is worth. No, he still owes me for two weeks' work. My poor sister has been ill for two days.
Jan: In what sort of money do you wish to receive the amount?
Nina: Parents who put their children at work too young, sacrifice them. It is against the law for him to work.
Jan: In the afternoon I wish to see the Pinacothek and the Glyptothek.
Nina: Begin the paragraph at the top of the page.
Jan: Waiter give me the bill of fare and the wine list. When must I be on board?
Carla: The first of next month.
Nina: The mother loves her son. The father loves his daughters. [whispering to Jan] I worked at Brown's Hat Factory.
Jan: The wind is going down. The coffee is good.
Nina: It is all "going down hill". [turning to Carla] Yes, I can write.
Carla: I shall go nowhere today. I will come another day.
Nina: Don't shake a baby up and down after eating.
Jan: Lie down immediately. What do you want?
[Dominik enters]
Nina: Get down. The girls have gone.
Dominik: The grapes have failed. Here is a chair, sit down.
A peaceful railway station. Nina, Dominik and Guiseppe approach each other.
Guiseppe: [soulfully] You, your master, and your mistress, have been civil to me, and merit my greatest thanks. How will you spend your time when you are there?
Dominik: I will never set my foot into that house.
Guiseppe: When will you go into the country?
Nina: Go into the country. I am in England.
Dominik: [gruffly] She may cope with the very first singers in Europe.
Nina: She has the best room in the house.
[Nina exits]
Dominik: He has introduced me into that house.
Guiseppe: I was going to your house. I believe he was coming from his own house.
[Dominik smiles at Guiseppe]
Dominik: Her proud ways alienate the minds from her. Their whole property was in the funds.
Guiseppe: He was called the duke of Orleans. To whom do the Canary Islands belong, how many are there of them, and how do they lie?
Dominik: [insidiously] I have only a few things liable to duty and I will declare them. I feel a little tired, but it will soon be over.
Guiseppe: But there is also a way of receiving them, when they are merited, that does not displease modesty. Those that grieve them, purchase to themselves a curse. [pause] I was assured that he is set out for his uncle's country-house.
Dominik: Tis a good horse that never stumbles (and a good wife that never grumbles).
[Dominik exits]
A smoky ship at sea. A boat is waiting. Guiseppe is sorting money. Karen is carrying her luggage.
Guiseppe: But there is nothing to say against the conduct of honest people.
Karen: How can you have a grudge against him?
Guiseppe: The books which I have seen you reading are not good.
Karen: I have my own wearing apparel, nothing more. [pause] About of the same size as the penny-boats, and good boats, I understand.
[Nina enters]
Nina: [blushingly] The net revenue for the half-year from the main line amounted to £607,297 as against £743,077 in 1909.
Guiseppe: They are not, I know they are gone a hunting.
Nina: I request you kindly to insure the cargo against total loss or f.p.a.
Guiseppe: I take the charge to get you your money.
[Nina exits, never to return]
Karen: Will you take the luggage to our rooms, please.
Guiseppe: You may take a dozen, if you please.
Karen: Walk in, if you please.
Guiseppe: [irritably] You are in great haste.
Karen: Is Mr. A. at home?
Guiseppe: The man who bought my house is honest. The girl who brought me my pen-knife, is lovely.
[Ludwik enters]
Karen: The Holm's church is the Sailor's church, I think. About 6 hours.
Guiseppe: Let us go then and see if your brothers are at home. If we would love our neighbour as much as we love ourselves, there would not be so much enmity in the world.
Karen: He looks so very delicate, as if he would not live to see another summer. Not so large as the boats running along the Thames.
Guiseppe: She is so ill that she can take nothing, neither can she have any rest.
Ludwik: The birds saw the fruit on the tree in front of them, and flew to the branches.
Guiseppe: It is a peach-tree, and the peaches are delicious.
[birds fly past]
Ludwik: No, he shakes the branch, and the apples fall.
Guiseppe: [putting down a pen] I have seven brothers and two sisters alive. [turning to Karen] You eat as if you were not hungry.
Karen: Then you have learnt the language before your arrival in this country.
Guiseppe: Let us walk in the garden before dinner.
Ludwik: He was in the garden and ran into the house.
Karen: [picking up a pen] Take the leaf away from the mouth.
[Bjørn enters]
Guiseppe: How does the lady your mother do?
Karen: And neither was my brother ever so. The son writes.
[Karen exits]
Ludwik: This person's sons are young.
Guiseppe: What is your brother's name? Perhaps it was not your master's fault.
Ludwik: The boy is near me.
Guiseppe: Our house is finer than yours.
Ludwik: Roses are flowers, they are not fruits.
Guiseppe: The gardens are very fine.
Bjørn: The Summer evenings are very light.
[Guiseppe walks to the front of the stage]
Guiseppe: Those gentlemen seem to be very cold.
Bjørn: [thankfully] When people get old, they generally get very cross.
Guiseppe: We had sworn to love each other eternally. [pause] I thought she was twenty.
Bjørn: Mr. C. will be very happy to see Mr. G. the day after tomorrow at the hour that suits him best.
[Bjørn exits]
Guiseppe: I go to Mr. Clement's house, for I heard my brother is there, and I have some business with him.
Ludwik: [deftly] No, but you showed yourself a courteous brother, and were very patient.
A smoky alleyway. It is snowing. A bell rings. Marie and Otto approach each other.
Otto: Open all copybooks.
[Karen enters]
Karen: She reads thy books. He reads thy book.
Otto: The first two pages in the new copybook.
[Karen crosses the stage]
Marie: Of two evils avoid the worst.
Otto: Who will be afraid of her now?
[Isabella enters]
Marie: I shall feign some kind of business.
Otto: She fell in some deep snow. Shall I get to hear some stories now?
Marie: Thou wilt have spoken. We should have spoken.
[Karen tosses a coin]
Otto: You will have unusually good cheer. Now all scholars may go and play.
Karen: We wish to have some gold changed into Danish coin.
Otto: [indiscreetly] I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold.
Karen: The father was a rich man and in an important situation.
Otto: What was the music in the street last night?
Karen: An important thing. A parliament. A witness.
Otto: [polishing a coin] On the contrary, he appointed him to a most important office in his government.
Karen: And then we wish to be acquainted with the different libraries in Copenhagen.
Otto: [polishing a coin] Who does not hope that we will now be able to live in peace?
Karen: I don't think so, but the bell has rung twice. [tossing a coin] The servant's thanks.
Otto: I have gone into the most distinguished houses, and go yet. I believe it belongs to the black doll lying on the bed.
Karen: You have slept for several hours and I think you find it so, because you are in the berth.
Isabella: I have been thinking of that. I have something else to show you.
Karen: He may be able to tell you every thing you wish to know better than I.
Isabella: We shall be very pleased to see you.
A well-kept public park. Leaves blow across the stage. It is snowing. A fire burns. Ludwik is awakening from sleep. Carla and Otto are across the stage.
Ludwik: [ashamedly] My aunt and cousin will come down stairs and converse with him.
Carla: Will you stay and take some dinner with us?
Ludwik: [sneeringly] I saw each of them, and talked to every boy. Will you not go away at once?
Carla: I must go away. I must go to school.
[Antoine enters]
Ludwik: You must go. Alexander the Great wished to unite the whole world into one vast empire.
Antoine: She must amuse the children by telling them amusing stories.
Ludwik: Then he saw that the little boy was sleeping there.
Carla: He is not as idle as his brother.
[Antoine exits]
Ludwik: They stood around him, and also around his father.
Carla: Let us sit down under the shade of this tree.
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance.
Ludwik: Then the older servants came, and stood around the king. The wind chased them away from us, and they seemed to dance around in the air.
Otto: They have been stirring around since half past three and woke me up with their racket.
[Otto exits]
Ludwik: Therefore they accused him, called him a sinner, and sent around false reports about him.
Carla: I prefer the single milled, it fits better.
Ludwik: They stood around him, and also around his father.
Carla: They enjoy a pure and wholesome air in France. They accepted my offer and the affair was settled.
Ludwik: [queasily] The birds are building their nests now, in those branches above our heads. Then the older servants came, and stood around the king. The wind chased them away from us, and they seemed to dance around in the air.
Carla: If it is not an indiscretion on my part, pray tell me what passed between you and them.
Ludwik: The leaves on the trees around us begin to have red and yellow colors.
Carla: These trees are too much exposed to the wind. [pause] I have translated P's Fables.
Ludwik: The birds are building their nests now, in those branches above our heads. The birds have very strong wings on their bodies, but they do not have hands.
[Carla crosses the stage]
Carla: [polishing a coin] He is a merchant, of whose honour and probity there can be no doubt. [pause] That is very disagreeable.
Ludwik: Three of the boys and two of the girls in that school are German.
Carla: They enjoy a pure and wholesome air in France.
Ludwik: The girls walking toward the school are friends of my sister's. [pause] Several times it thundered loudly.
Carla: [whispering] My sister is still at a boarding-school. He is the most diligent of the whole school. He and she did the whole work.
Ludwik: [adding some twigs to the fire] My sister is sitting on the sofa in another room, and learning her lessons. A new school is being built, not far from the home of the judge.
Carla: I must go to school. I must go.
[Nina enters]
Nina: You must send your boy to school.
Carla: You should be at school by this time. You will find him at his house.
Ludwik: Soon she will go to school.
Carla: I shall go to bed early. I shall be very angry.
[Carla exits]
Nina: [yawning] Where shall I begin to read? In many buildings there are not enough exits in case of fire.
Ludwik: [abjectly] Between March and June I shall go there. Because you helped, I shall praise you the more.
Nina: You must save your money for the time when you will need it.
[Carla enters]
Ludwik: I shall have as much time as I shall need.
Nina: We shall owe seven dollars at the end of the week.
[Nina exits]
Ludwik: We like it even more than the summer.
An untended forest. It is snowing. Dominik is adjusting his hat. Marie is nearby.
Dominik: The form of this hat is rather small. The hair of her head is white like snow. The grass begins to grow.
[Dominik crosses the stage]
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Dominik: This pear is of a choice species.
Marie: I hear vociferating people in the street.
Dominik: Your stockings have holes in them.
Marie: No one has told it to me. No friend has come to see me.
Dominik: [ostentatiously] Will you be so good as to write down your name here.
Marie: [thinly] He seeks to injure me with my uncle.
Dominik: Be so kind as to present my respects to your uncle.
Marie: The gentleman who entered first was my father. The brother and the sister love each other.
[Marie exits]
A secluded forest. A bell rings. Otto is winding a clock. Carla is leafing through a book.
Otto: I'm afraid I have spoiled my chances altogether. [pause] If scholars had to go to six o'clock classes, they would of course have to have their breakfast still earlier, and we are told that a light breakfast was in fact eaten before six a.m., then a good meal was taken about ten, and the principal one about four p.m.
[Nina enters]
Nina: These cheap candies are almost like poison, and some of them are poisonous. He should have a diet of cereals, eggs and plenty of milk.
[Ludwik enters]
Carla: [wisely] I do not like disobedient children.
Nina: We do not like it. I do not know it.
Carla: I do not like it, and you will oblige me by speaking no more about it.
Nina: [looking at the clock] Do the best you can and I will help you in a moment. [turning to Ludwik] These children should brush their teeth night and morning.
Ludwik: The flowers will wither because those children gathered them.
Otto: She will no longer be able to catch any of us. They were very glad to see their mother again.
Ludwik: Soon they will be able to bake bread, and even to cook a whole meal. The flowers on the table are red, yellow and white.
Otto: Getting up early and early meals compelled early retiring, so that eight in the evening was quite late in the opinion of our forefathers.
Carla: [eating some bread] I give you these books, but do not lend them to your brother.
Otto: [timorously] Well, then, please be good enough to close the door. I don't believe mice can talk anyway!
Nina: It is a good thing to drink plenty of pure water between meals. It is against the law for him to work until he is fourteen.
Otto: But, friends, one thing yet remains, that is, to hang the bell on her tail.
A quiet public park. It is raining. A dog barks. Karen is holding a book. Otto is nearby.
Karen: It is his brother who looks delicate in health.
Otto: He said he was sick. The door was shut.
Karen: There is a knock at the door. The picture is behind the door.
Otto: He shut the door. He has just got back.
Karen: [pensively] Without the least information. The book of oblivion.
Otto: He was shutting the door.
[Nina enters]
Karen: And we are still in the harbour.
Otto: The houses were being built in the 15th century. [pause] O!
Karen: Certainly, thank you! Certainly!
Otto: Why, that is really too bad! If you would only spare my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness.
Nina: If you really wanted work, you could get it. If you go to a sanatorium now, you may get well.
Otto: I wish some one would shoot that ugly beast!
Nina: If you go in time, you can be cured; if you wait, it may be too late. If you remain here, you will expose all the rest of your family to the disease.
Otto: I should like to hear what the rest of you think. I hope they were not badly hurt! [to Karen] Then there is another advantage.
Karen: Now the rain has ceased and I must bid you good bye! As you see, it rains cats and dogs.
[Karen exits]
Otto: How in the world can you decide without knowing? You remember we had not planned to stop there at all, but some American friends persuaded us to stay a few days.
[Guiseppe enters]
Guiseppe: [callously] At what a price would I not purchase the time past! I believe I shall go into the country this day, but I hope I shall come back this day fortnight.
Otto: [dramatically] Oh, you naughty boy, how angry your mother will be when she comes home! Who would have believed that our white sister was so clever?
Guiseppe: I have but fifteen or sixteen, as you see. I have been thirsty all day.
Otto: [genteelly] A witch has told you that! No, of course not.
Nina: Open your mouth wide and say, "Ah!"
Otto: [obnoxiously] Waiting for you to come and help me out! Laughing at you, of course, what else!
Nina: Can't your daughter come to the cooking-class?
Otto: [priggishly] What will become of me!
Guiseppe: What will you have me do with them?
[Otto exits]
Nina: I have many of them.
Guiseppe: [majestically] You are mistaken, he is not there.
Nina: I must have it at once. She must be vaccinated at once.
Guiseppe: You must not play before you can say your lesson.
Nina: You must sign this before a notary public.
[Nina exits]
A secluded field. Karen is holding a letter. Antoine is nearby.
Karen: Indeed! It is dreadful!
Antoine: He showed me his gardens. The house was surrounded by trees.
Karen: How do you find the language written there? The letter carrier is accustomed to.
Antoine: The daughter of the lawyer who is here.
Karen: The mother measures.
Antoine: The church was full of flowers. I have bought some flowers.
Karen: The Synagogue is a very handsome building, Sir, erected some twenty years ago.
[Antoine exits]
A secluded dock. It is raining. Leaves blow across the stage. A boat is waiting. Otto is winding a clock. Guiseppe sits nearby.
Otto: [looking at the clock] He was wounded in the leg at the battle of -----, was taken prisoner and remained in prison several months.
Guiseppe: [looking at the clock] He speaks to them of the blessed life which he has prepared for his servants. The best soldiers in the world are sometimes conquered. The letter which my father wrote to me is very severe.
Otto: [weirdly] As soldiers, therefore, they are brave and bold, and as neighbours kindly and helpful. You saved my life in battle ten years ago.
Guiseppe: Do they talk of the war in your town? Their brother and sister are industrious.
Otto: So he at once set the clock so that it would strike two. However, the doctor says he will soon be well.
Guiseppe: Happy are the people who have a good prince to govern them.
Otto: [looking at the clock] He ought to have a boat to sail in.
Guiseppe: [looking at the clock] I bought it at the last country fair. What was the late king of France's name?
[Bjørn enters]
[Otto crosses the stage]
Bjørn: The swallow is the harbinger of spring.
Otto: [portentously] The answer was in the affirmative.
Bjørn: They will find the house.
Otto: I was out in the rain.
Bjørn: It is bad weather.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Guiseppe: If it is fine weather to-morrow, we will go in the country.
Bjørn: There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year. The wind blew from the southwest and was accompanied by frequent showers.
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance.
Bjørn: He might be the father of the girl.
A small path. Smoke is in the air. Antoine is breaking a loaf of bread. Marie sits nearby.
Antoine: No bread was served to him.
Marie: [picking up a pencil] I have spoken to him. I have not spoken to them. I have spoken to them.
Antoine: They would have left the chapel, if he and his daughter had not come at that moment. I see them coming.
Marie: Have I not spoken to them of it?
Antoine: I don't know what to think of it.
Marie: I know not of what you think. I speak not of it.
Antoine: I don't know what to say nor do.
Marie: One was speaking.
Antoine: Of which one are you speaking?
Marie: You were speaking. We were speaking.
Antoine: [putting down a pencil] The book of which I speak. The man with whom I speak.
Marie: He had been speaking. One had been speaking. I had been speaking.
Antoine: As soon as I have finished, I shall go and speak to him.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his.
Antoine: [frenetically] This chicken is not so big as the one that we had yesterday. Don't speak to me.
Marie: The brother and the sister love each other.
[Ludwik enters]
Antoine: The father and his daughters are tall.
[Antoine eats some bread]
Marie: My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
Antoine: They were in the act of raising the curtain, when the king arrived. I had been there a long time, when he arrived.
Marie: Thou hadst been speaking. You had been speaking.
Antoine: With whom are you speaking? The man with whom I speak.
Marie: [pointedly] He was speaking. I was speaking. I had been speaking.
[Dominik enters]
Antoine: I didn't speak to you.
Ludwik: He did not speak to me since from that week.
Antoine: As soon as I have finished, I shall go and speak to him.
Dominik: This bloodhound is well trained, he is a good limer and is never tired.
Antoine: This man was a good diver formerly.
Marie: They were speaking. He had been speaking. We had been speaking.
[Marie exits]
Antoine: The king has good trees but no fruit in his garden. He is my friend.
Ludwik: The birds are building their nests now, in those branches above our heads.
Antoine: There are big trees and small ones in this garden. I paid ten cents an ounce for this tobacco.
Ludwik: They gathered fresh flowers and gave them to the woman.
Antoine: He seems to be unaware that it is hard to learn to speak French. Nobody fears him.
Ludwik: To learn how to speak such a language is a difficult matter.
Antoine: This painter whose uncle I am is a famous man.
Ludwik: I know the children whose father is a friend of yours.
Antoine: As soon as I have finished, I shall go and speak to him.
Dominik: May I know, with whom I have the honour of speaking?
Antoine: That pig isn't worth the trouble of stealing it.
Dominik: It is worth fifty rubles to me.
Antoine: I have more pencils than you.
Ludwik: You have seen.
Dominik: I have some to spare. I have read some Polish books. I have read the book through.
Antoine: [shrewdly] When my power was menaced, you showed your bravery. Here are my books and John's. [eating some bread] I need my books.
Dominik: If I go so far as to marry, I will choose some one young, handsome and rich. It appears to me you have a mind.
An empty hotel room. Ludwik is holding a hat. Otto is sorting money.
Ludwik: I found him a thief. I found such a beautiful flower.
Otto: You will he surprised to hear that your cousin has gone to Germany.
Ludwik: He will be pleased to have you go.
Otto: Who will be afraid of her now? [pause] I have to pack my valise yet and it's ten minutes' walk to the station.
Ludwik: She will be careful of that hat.
Otto: After the thief had pocketed all the money, he left the room in such a hurry that he did not shut the door.
Ludwik: So the judges condemned him to death by the drinking of poison.
Otto: He is one of the richest men here and has the finest house in town.
Ludwik: Mary sits on the soft green grass, and eats ripe fruit.
Otto: [dismally] However, in the town there are larger hotels and more of them.
Ludwik: The ancient law about ostracism was a strange one. They were about to attack him, when he rode away secretly into a large forest.
Otto: You are a clever judge. I do really believe he would.
Ludwik: I was there where you will go.
Otto: There he sat weeping.
Ludwik: His honor the judge. His honor the mayor. He is indeed an upright judge.
Otto: What was the music in the street last night?
Ludwik: A child was standing in the street, and crying.
[Otto exits]
A gloomy railway platform. A fire burns. Otto is winding a clock. Bjørn is counting out money. Marie sits nearby.
Otto: Less than your Majesty and with less glory.
[Isabella enters]
Isabella: We shall be there in less than half an hour.
Otto: I had a very interesting conversation with him, however.
Isabella: I like it better than whist, or even piquet. I am a little better this morning.
Marie: He is less skillful than I thought.
Isabella: He is older than I. Here is coffee.
Marie: [mirthfully] We should have spoken.
Otto: Indeed, I expected that someone would have spoken of it. He said that he would come to-morrow at ten o'clock. [pause] Wait till to-morrow, then.
Marie: They would have spoken. He would have spoken.
Bjørn: They would make a fire. There you are mistaken, sir.
Otto: He would lose his head, I fancy, if it were not fast on.
Bjørn: I did not think you were so capable a needlewoman. I did not intend to spend so much money on this purchase. [turning to Marie] This was against three bloody-minded monsters, who were carrying off a damsel in distress.
Marie: Do not unto others that which thou wouldst not like to be done unto thee. [pause] Have I not spoken it?
Bjørn: I am sorry to hear that your sister is ill.
An undecorated church. Bjørn is wearing a hat. Guiseppe is examining some money.
Guiseppe: I have been twelve years in this country, during which time I have had the honour of teaching several ladies and gentlemen the Italian language.
Bjørn: The old gentleman is my grandfather, another of the gentlemen is my father-in-law.
[Guiseppe crosses the stage]
Guiseppe: One sees very seldom a child prosper in this world, who does not obey his father and mother. Far from following my advice, he does not mind what I say to him.
Bjørn: My sister has lost her bonnet, and my brother has lost his hat.
Guiseppe: Do not pretend ever to prosper in this world, if you have not the fear of God.
Bjørn: I have been permitted to do it, but I have been unwilling to do it.
Guiseppe: [balefully] Spain is a hot country, but Germany is a very cold one. It is permitted to a sick person to complain.
Bjørn: Nothing is wanting, all is right, here is your money. Wishing to see him and not being able to find him anywhere, I must write to him.
Guiseppe: Europe, in relation to the other parts of the world, lies northward.
Bjørn: Then we were on the other side of the river. [pause] At what shop did you buy this ham?
Guiseppe: [eating some ham] Do not pretend ever to prosper in this world, if you have not the fear of God.
Bjørn: Mr. C. being obliged to start to-morrow for the country, requests Mr. G. not to give himself the trouble of calling.
Guiseppe: Therefore I intend to set out to-morrow for my country-house, and then I will send my eldest son to Sicily for the summer. I go to Mr. Clement's house, for I heard my brother is there, and I have some business with him. I am very glad to see you, for your brother told me you were gone to France.
Bjørn: Mr. C. being obliged to start to-morrow for the country, requests Mr. G. not to give himself the trouble of calling.
Guiseppe: Europe, in relation to the other parts of the world, lies northward. I had much ado to engage your uncle to pass his word for a hundred pounds I owe Mr. Clement. I have a mind to compel Mr. —— to pay me the money he owes me.
Bjørn: Mr. C. being obliged to start to-morrow for the country, requests Mr. G. not to give himself the trouble of calling.
Guiseppe: Do not pretend ever to prosper in this world, if you have not the fear of God. But few are they that would suffer the least thing to deserve it.
Bjørn: On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings.
[Bjørn exits]
A pleasant restaurant. Antoine is peeling a pear. Carla is pouring a mug of tea.
Antoine: A good boy, a little woman, the young man, the black horses, the French school, the round table, the open door, an excellent book. They were in the act of raising the curtain, when the king arrived.
Carla: That young man neglects study, therefore he will never be fit for anything.
Antoine: [amorously] The king wanted them to raise the curtain. I was not struck by lightning.
Carla: This topaz surrounded with pearls pleases me much more.
Antoine: Poor Fanny was to carry the beautiful pears to market. My patient lives on the ground floor.
Carla: I shall go and take tea tomorrow at your house.
Antoine: I am going to take you to my house.
[Carla exits]
A clean church. The sky is clear outside the window. Karen is pouring a glass of wine. Bjørn is examining a piece of beef. Isabella stands in front of a window.
Isabella: I am ashamed of you. It is shameful.
Karen: The beams or rays of the sun.
[Isabella exits]
Bjørn: [suavely] The ram is the male of the sheep. [emphatically] The Summer evenings are very light.
Karen: The Barracks, the Royal Arsenal, the Shipyards and the Dockyard, we know about. All the meals, but wine and ale are to be paid for extra. [unassertively] Put the key and the reel together.
Bjørn: The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef. [lackadaisically] He lives in this house.
[Carla enters]
Carla: He met him in the street and brought him to his house.
Bjørn: The goat is a much hardier animal than the sheep but not so useful.
Karen: The father was a rich man and in an important situation. The watchman is a guardian and has a weapon.
Bjørn: The lion, the king of animals, is found in the hot countries of Africa and Asia.
[Bjørn exits]
Karen: There are railways in the island of Sealand.
[Carla crosses the stage]
Carla: This is the finest village in the country.
[Carla approaches Karen]
Karen: And we are still in the harbour.
[Jan enters]
Carla: It is the easiest thing in the world.
Jan: [remorsefully] I am going into the country. I am going to bed. [pause] I am writing to my brother.
Carla: You prevent me from writing. I spend my time in reading and writing. She spends all her time in reading novels.
[Carla exits]
Jan: I want two furnished rooms, a bed, and sitting room.
Karen: [passively] Do you know, that my brother has bought an estate? But alas!
Jan: I do not know what to think about it.
Karen: I don't know what you mean. I don't know how to manage you, my dear cousin.
Jan: One does not know how to escape the heat.
Karen: Ah, perhaps you don't know where to find the church.
[Karen exits]
An overgrown forest. Karen and Marie stand far apart from one another.
Marie: I shall be weary. I shall have spoken. We shall have spoken.
Karen: Now I dare say, you will allow me to say stop.
[Dominik enters]
Marie: [nostalgically] Not a man, not a woman has come to see me.
Karen: Not at all, he has been very lucky.
Marie: No son of mine shall become an actor.
Karen: Don't forget, that a small weight becomes heavy in time.
Marie: I wrote him so that I might hear from him.
Dominik: Where do you come from?
Karen: At home and homewards. The mother measures.
Dominik: How pure and beneficial the country air it.
A quiet hotel lobby. Jan is packing his luggage. Guiseppe is shuffling a deck of cards. Dominik arrives.
Jan: Thirty six mark. From three to six marcs.
[Jan walks to the back of the stage]
Dominik: He is a man of the old school. He is a man of genius.
Jan: The examination of the luggage is not yet finished. The bed room is not light enough.
Dominik: The will of the sovereign is the highest law in an absolute state. He is the whole day in the ale house.
Guiseppe: In short, it is the most abominable crime in the world.
Jan: With the best will in the world I cannot do it.
[Guiseppe tosses a coin]
Guiseppe: My brother is gone into the country for a month.
[Jan exits]
Dominik: My sister is going to be confirmed next Easter.
Guiseppe: My mother is gone over to France for her health.
Dominik: Your passports are to be signed for France.
Guiseppe: I take the charge to get you your money. [pause] Do you never play at cards?
Dominik: Oh yes, but I own, I play rather badly. So many countries, so many customs.
Guiseppe: The best soldiers in the world are sometimes conquered.
A cold tavern. A fire burns. Otto is examining a book. Karen stands at the door.
Otto: [resignedly] We must have the whole world finely brushed up for to-morrow. Do you know, Mr. Sandman?
Karen: Find my account.
Otto: I am going for a walk.
Karen: You are in error, quite wrong! The learned man's advice.
[Otto walks to the back of the stage]
Otto: I can assure you, he won't die of hunger even if he doesn't get any dinner. The man there yonder is a book-seller.
Karen: On the west side of the Exchange and connected with it by a corridor.
Otto: He is one of the richest men here and has the finest house in town. Does anyone know that somebody?
Karen: Perhaps you know him at the club. [adding some twigs to the fire] Well!
[Nina enters]
Otto: [adding some twigs to the fire] However, the doctor says he will soon be well. The boy will go in half an hour.
Karen: Your father will soon be back, I hope?
Otto: She will no longer be able to catch any of us.
Nina: She is old enough to be sent to school. It is most important to do so.
Karen: [absently] On the west side of the Exchange and connected with it by a corridor.
Otto: But the mice had not thought of that, and now no one wanted to be eaten up.
Karen: It gives an idea of the luxury which once reigned in Denmark.
Otto: We are off to Berlin by the next train, which leaves in twenty minutes.
Nina: Nurse him only twenty minutes. There are only two windows.
Otto: Well, children, where was the house? One eye was also injured.
[Nina walks to the edge of the stage]
Nina: In many buildings there are not enough exits in case of fire.
A warm hotel lobby. Bjørn and Carla stand at the door.
Carla: I shall go to bed early. I shall soon be ten.
Bjørn: But you shall see him. I shall be.
Carla: I will see you no more. I shall go out in half an hour. We shall be there in less than half an hour.
Bjørn: [venally] I am afraid I shall be cheated, when the people see that I am a foreigner.
Carla: I shall tell it your father when he comes in. [pause] His manners are repelling.
Bjørn: The tiger, the leopard, and the rhinoceros are principally found in Asia.
Carla: In winter, the roads are always worse than in summer. She carries her age well.
[Carla exits]
A litter-strewn churchyard. Dominik and Marie approach each other.
Marie: Thou speakest. He speaks.
Dominik: To settle the score. I hope I shall have the honour of seeing you again shortly.
Marie: They shall have been. The flowers which she has given me.
Dominik: The rivers have overflowed their banks. The rites of the church.
Marie: [uncertainly] I have as much of this as of that. [pause] I have not had any.
Dominik: The profits of this place are better than the salary. He stands impeached.
Marie: [thirstily] At the price of his honor he has capitulated. The letters which I have written.
Dominik: Have the kindness to mark the books which suit you. He is used to it.
Marie: Have I spoken to him about it?
Dominik: I have every thing I want about me.
Marie: You have been.
A grimy bar. Isabella is winding the clock. Bjørn is examining a piece of venison.
Isabella: It is about two o'clock.
Bjørn: It is but too true. That is not true.
Isabella: [sincerely] It is almost two o'clock. It is nearly two o'clock.
Bjørn: It is 2 o'clock.
Isabella: It is five o'clock. It is one o'clock.
Bjørn: What o'clock is it? Tell me what o'clock it is. It is five minutes after seven.
Isabella: Come about nine o'clock. We want dinner at six o'clock.
Bjørn: We are sufficiently supplied with food and clothing. [pause] You have not been here before.
Isabella: I will pay you when you bring everything you have to make for me.
Bjørn: I have not been able to come before 5 o'clock. I don't know whether it is right or wrong.
[Bjørn looks at the clock]
Isabella: I shall come back at ten o'clock at the latest. It will soon be two o'clock.
Bjørn: You have kept the venison too long.
Isabella: I get up at six o'clock.
Bjørn: It was a big stone. It is beautiful weather.
[Isabella exits]
A dimly-lit path. It is snowing. Karen and Isabella approach each other.
Isabella: It is a pity.
Karen: The world is busy.
Isabella: The weather is stormy. What a pity!
Karen: The researcher's tomb.
Isabella: There is much snow. They are much worn now.
Karen: But there is the reverse to the page, I find.
[Karen exits]
A peaceful street. It is snowing. Otto is examining some money. Isabella is wearing a hat. Carla enters.
Otto: This man here speaks the truth in what he says; for I did promise to give him a sum of money, if I should recover my sight. On the contrary, he appointed him to a most important office in his government.
Isabella: Is this gentleman an acquaintance of yours—the one who took off his hat?
[Carla glares at Isabella]
Otto: Yes, but I don't remember much of the real history.
Carla: I thought your brother was to be of the party.
[Antoine enters]
Otto: He will hardly remember the circumstance and all will he well. He had come intending to surprise me and he succeeded.
Isabella: I had the honour of writing to you on the 12th ult. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Antoine: Yes, but I had heard it told so often that I didn't laugh at it this time.
Carla: I see by your discourse that you are acquainted with this business.
Antoine: Did you see the words that I carved on the door?
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance.
Antoine: The man whose son is dead.
Otto: The man there yonder is a book-seller.
Antoine: The daughter of the lawyer who is here.
Isabella: I like the odour of the violet. I prefer the scent of roses.
Antoine: Do you like this one or that one?
Isabella: Yes, take this portmanteau. Yes, take this trunk.
Antoine: The poor man thinks it is his doctor. [pause] He has just been listening to the debates.
Isabella: There is no accounting for tastes.
Antoine: [attentively] There was once a wolf who was looking for adventure.
Isabella: I am looking for the tongs.
Antoine: Scarcely had he entered, when he saw the lady that he had been looking for so long.
A quiet churchyard. Bjørn is smoking a cigar. Isabella arrives.
Isabella: Is the door open? Air it a little.
Bjørn: Yes, I have a few cigars.
[Guiseppe enters]
Guiseppe: You have examined them carefully.
Bjørn: I have no time to spare.
Guiseppe: You may give some to your daughters.
Isabella: Present my respects to your aunt.
Bjørn: I regret that your visit has been so short.
Isabella: You need not take it to heart.
Bjørn: I cannot get it into his head.
Isabella: [lighting a cigar] I am going to his house. I was going to church.
An empty path. A cab is waiting. A harp plays. It is snowing. Jan is sorting coins. Otto is examining an orange. Nina is awakening from sleep.
Otto: [undramatically] Can you change a bill?
Jan: To pay in the same coin. I go in the first cabin. Here we are at the first station.
Otto: I really hope you won't be worried about it when I do tell you.
[snow falls]
Nina: Do you have to bend over so when you write?
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance. [pause] What a proud creature!
Nina: At the bottom of the page you will see what I mean.
Jan: What do you mean? What do you want?
Nina: [polishing a coin] Get down.
Jan: Pray sit down. Please sit down.
[Antoine enters]
[Jan walks to the edge of the stage]
Nina: Won't you sit down?
[Dominik enters]
Jan: Have the kindness to sit down.
Nina: Pull that down. [removing a boot] Roll over to the right.
Jan: What do you say to the matter?
Nina: You must take him away to the country.
Otto: You must not imagine anything of the kind. He stood on the bridge, looking down at the water.
[everybody turns to look at Antoine]
Dominik: It is fine walking to-day, the weather is good for walking.
Otto: When walking down town at his usual rapid pace he slipped on a piece of orange peel and fell so heavily that he broke his right arm.
Dominik: His boot slipped, and he fell to the ground.
Nina: No, but I can get it from the priest. He will be better paid, if he is well trained.
Jan: Will you have the kindness to change this gold for me?
Nina: I have some questions to ask you. Of what did she die?
Dominik: That is the rest. That is the right way.
Otto: [jeeringly] What was the music in the street last night?
[Carla enters]
Dominik: My harp wants stringing.
Jan: That means nothing. That is charming.
Dominik: [removing a boot] There is nothing to be abated, it is all money laid oat. There is nothing to guess.
Jan: [lugubriously] The trees are beginning to bud, they will soon blossom.
Dominik: She also plays the harp and exceedingly well on the pianoforte.
[Dominik exits]
Jan: That pleases me exceedingly. That does not signify to me.
Otto: [courteously] What will you give me, if I do it for you?
Nina: You will not get well if you don't do as you are told. You must not put water in your ears.
Otto: How long were the musicians there? Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance. I will pay the boy when he brings the things.
[everybody turns to look at Carla]
Nina: [removing a boot] She is three years old. We can give you work splitting wood.
Carla: Summer is the season of the harvest. Under this large oak we shall be sheltered from the sun.
Otto: Why, you didn't tell us the name of the house nor where it was.
Carla: We have had a great eclipse of the sun this year.
Otto: Well, children, where was the house? He can take care of himself.
Carla: I shall go nowhere today.
[Karen enters]
Otto: We shall go to Toronto to-morrow. He intends coming by train, to-morrow afternoon.
[Isabella enters]
Isabella: What do you intend doing in Paris?
Otto: I can't find mine anywhere.
Isabella: [tantalizingly] I intend going there. [turning to Nina] Here are some of exquisite workmanship.
Nina: [wholesomely] Is there a place where you can sleep out-of-doors?
Carla: If he has none, get it somewhere else. He has always been good for nothing.
Antoine: She has gone to get the doctor. They have gone to church.
Carla: Figure to yourself the doctor in the middle of a ball-room.
Karen: And I am heartily sick of what the world considers the lap of fortune. [pause] Good bye.
[Karen exits]
Carla: Did you ever hear anybody speak ill of those ladies? I sent for the physician. [turning to Antoine] I enjoy the most perfect health.
A windswept path. It is raining. Carla is sipping wine. Marie is nearby.
Marie: I had been. He had been.
Carla: [pouring some wine] Come and see me this evening.
Marie: Whom do you see?
Carla: I have had no wine.
Marie: Your garden and mine. My friend and my brother's.
Carla: Have you heard from your brother?
[Otto enters]
Marie: The gentleman who entered first was my father.
Otto: [demandingly] The man whom we saw at the station yesterday was a German.
Marie: Of what you spoke yesterday has happened.
Otto: I suppose here in this one. I was out in the rain.
Marie: This one is yours and that one is his. [turning to Carla] Have I not spoken?
Carla: I was going to your house. I am going to tell you.
Marie: I have as much of this as of that.
[snow falls]
Carla: I have a notion that... I have nothing but silk.
[Nina enters]
Marie: [heartily] I know not of what you think. [to Nina] Thou speakest.
Nina: You must not put water in your ears.
[snow falls]
Marie: I speak not to them. I speak not to him.
Nina: Have you been to them for money?
[Carla tosses a coin]
Otto: Yes, and in winter the snow is the hindrance.
A bright path. It is snowing. Carla is holding a letter. Jan enters.
Jan: Are you unwell? From thence to the new Cathedral.
Carla: Yes, it is fine. Yes, but it is wider.
Jan: It is now getting fine.
Carla: It is snowing.
Jan: It is bad weather. It is beautiful weather.
Carla: [playfully] Now as it is fine weather, let us take a walk.
Jan: It is mild weather today.
Carla: I prefer a country house to the finest palace.
Jan: My astonishment has arrived at the highest pitch. Answer me.
Carla: It is only mentioned in a private letter. This is a fine white.
[Jan exits]
A well-kept street. Guiseppe is searching through some money. Dominik arrives.
Guiseppe: [nonchalantly] Let him gather all his things, and then go.
Dominik: [destructively] He likes listening at the door.
Guiseppe: He lives there the whole year.
Dominik: He moves neither hand nor foot.
Guiseppe: How do your father and mother do?
Dominik: Pass over to the other side.
Guiseppe: I ask you but what others give me.
Dominik: Our cannon has silenced that of the enemy. Where is the booking-office, the waiting-room, the baggage-office?
[Dominik exits]
Guiseppe: 'Tis true I was resolved to go there, if my father had given me money enough to make that journey. As long as you are rich, you will not want friends.
An empty road. Guiseppe, Karen and Otto approach each other.
Otto: The Chinese fable given above is only one of a great number of the kind to be found in Oriental collections.
Guiseppe: God has given to kings power to command, and to judges authority to judge.
Otto: I have to pack my valise yet and it's ten minutes' walk to the station.
Karen: [critically] Foreigners often know how to open our eyes and ears better than the natives.
Otto: I do not think your cousin could have done better than take this advice.
Karen: Do you know, that my brother has bought an estate? You know this is the main island.
[Guiseppe exits, never to return]
Otto: No, not exactly, but she is better. The captain introduced us to quite a number of the passengers, whom we found very pleasant and sociable.
Karen: And no wonder if he is very restless at the present moment. Certainly.
[Karen exits]
A secluded forest. Leaves blow across the stage. Marie and Karen approach each other.
Marie: [urbanely] Do I not speak it?
Karen: No, one of the small Danish towns. Very well, Sir.
Marie: Not the least wind was felt.
Karen: The fruit of industry.
Marie: Such flowers. To your house.
[Marie eats some fruit]
Karen: Much obliged to you. I am very much obliged to you. I am very much obliged to you for this trouble.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Marie: Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable.
Karen: The boy is idle.
[Karen exits]
A modern church. A fire burns. Antoine is watching a mule through the window. Nina is adjusting the clock.
Nina: [scathingly] No matter.
Antoine: [looking at the clock] No, it is they. Who is there?
Nina: [adding some twigs to the fire] Yes, my brother is here. Much consumption is caused by too many people living together in close, stuffy rooms.
Antoine: Our mules are going to get into the house, says the doctor. At their house.
Nina: They are not nourishing, and they only make them nervous. I can have you arrested for not sending him, and you will be made to pay a fine.
Antoine: I went to the poet's house to look for my servant, and I found him there.
Nina: Try to keep your house and your street clean.
Antoine: They are going to have this street paved. They are mounted on their mules.
Nina: We are going to have a Mothers' Meeting today at four o'clock.
Antoine: [aristocratically] Here is the only fire there is in the house.
Nina: She has the best room in the house.
Antoine: She has gone to get the doctor. The officer was put in charge of the château.
Nina: The streets are worse than the sidewalks.
Antoine: The man whose son is dead.
Nina: The man who said so is here.
Antoine: The daughter of the lawyer who is here.
Nina: [thinly] The father loves his daughters. With whom did you speak?
Antoine: With whom are you speaking?
Nina: Try to keep your house and your street clean.
Antoine: The thing becomes more and more evident. The doors and windows are open.
[Nina exchanges glances with Antoine]
Nina: On what street do you live?
Antoine: Most people do not believe it.
Nina: We do not like it.
Antoine: I think like they. I think so.
Nina: Do you like the newspapers?
Antoine: I have to have a book. I have two watches. [pause] They have gone to church.
Nina: There are some people who say that the water in Rome is not pure.
Antoine: Here are the letters that they wrote each other.
Nina: There are some words that I do not understand.
Antoine: Here are my pens and those that you bought. Who sent you that letter?
Nina: He likes the garden. He lives at Pisa. He likes the gardens.
Antoine: [treacherously] He is the tallest of all my brothers.
Nina: The mother loves her son. Can you do anything else?
Antoine: I think so. I think like they.
A pleasant church. A dog barks. The sky is clear outside the window. Karen is cooking a piece of cheese. Antoine stands in the aisle.
Karen: To be quite open, it is — as far as I believe at least — because the Danes generally don't pay due attention to proper and distinct pronunciation. [pause] The artifice of mountain-sprites.
Antoine: [benevolently] But the dog calls his attention to his leanness, and begs him to wait a while.
Karen: No, because he has some talent for poetry, and my uncle is fond of poetry.
Antoine: He could go, but she couldn't, because she had people at her house. They would have left the chapel, if he and his daughter had not come at that moment.
Karen: For our supper we shall want tea, cold meat, lobster, cheese, bread and butter. Don't give us buttered bread, pray, but bread and butter. The beams or rays of the sun.
[Karen exits]
A secluded ship at harbour. A horse stands downstage. The sky is clear. Antoine is examining an apple. Jan is adding sugar to a cup of coffee.
Antoine: I, your best friend, forget you? Here are your apples, sir.
Jan: He is my best friend. That annoys me very much.
[Jan crosses the stage]
Antoine: [selfishly] He is the biggest eater I have ever seen. I killed just now the biggest hare that I have ever seen. If the king heard this talked of, he would have me arrested.
[Dominik enters]
Jan: I wish to have a plan and a description of this town.
Dominik: You must not leave as in a weather like this.
[Karen enters]
[Antoine tosses a coin]
Karen: Not again hear the cuckoo.
Dominik: Alight again from the horse.
Karen: [pouring some coffee] The noise of the lion. The horse takes rest.
Dominik: The engine of this steamer is of 80 horse power.
Jan: The train will start in five minutes. [turning to Karen] As you please.
Karen: But as he is no chicken, without doubt deeply in debt, as he always was fond of living in style, and as he is acknowledged to be a clever person, then after all, your own home is worth gold.
Jan: I advise you also to see the Royal Palace, the Mint, and the Arsenal.
Antoine: This chicken is not so big as the one that we had yesterday.
Dominik: This horsebreaker is a good ridingmaster.
Karen: The horse takes rest. The sea's secret.
Jan: The orchestra is excellent.
Karen: The boy is idle.
Jan: The motion is less.
Antoine: The weather is fine.
[Isabella enters]
Dominik: The last trick is mine.
[Marie enters]
Karen: The house sinks. The sun shines.
Dominik: The weather is shocking. The barometer is rising.
Karen: Where there is a will there is a way. [pause] Every one is happy.
Antoine: She is at home on Thursday every Thursday. She has not been deceived.
Karen: [drinking some coffee] Then is he really very poor? The miser's gold.
Jan: The costumes are very rich.
Dominik: The choruses are very fine. The horses are come.
Jan: The exchange is not very advantageous at this moment.
Karen: The letter carrier is accustomed to.
Jan: The coffee is good. That is a good idea.
Karen: The boy is idle.
Dominik: The front is modern.
Jan: The play is over. The sky is overcast. The sea is very calm.
Dominik: The idea originated from him. The vapours arising from the sea.
Marie: I have as much of this as of that. I have given him some pieces of money.
Jan: You have chosen your time badly.
Karen: I have taken my dinner.
Jan: You have forestalled my wishes.
Isabella: I came from your father's.
Jan: One can have no idea of it.
Karen: You can have what you like, Sir.
A clean church. A fire burns. Karen, Carla and Isabella stand at the door.
Carla: It is also in this season that the grass is mowed.
Karen: We wish to see some of the curiosities in Copenhagen. She is very lively, but a happy mind can be a very serious mind.
Carla: [hoarsely] I should like to see the books you have just received.
[Karen adds a log to the fire]
Karen: We should like to go to bed early and beg you to let us have a good fire.
Carla: I like to go to bed in good time.
Karen: Do you think of going abroad this year?
Isabella: No, my friend, I was just thinking of having a walk in the park.
Karen: He must bring you a glass of brandy and water. [pause] In the beginning of my studying the language I did not think so, but since I am here, I find it sometimes impossible to understand even the most common expressions.
Carla: He walked round the house, and spoke to everybody he met with. These walks are well kept, I like to see their regularity.
Karen: But pray, tell me, who is the lady you walked with yesterday?
Carla: You may go and take a walk in the garden, but do not touch anything whatever.
Karen: I know the Athenaeum is 24 Ostergade, but I don't know anything about it.
Carla: He walks in the yard from morning till night.
Isabella: Let us walk a little longer. Surely you can stay a little longer. [turning to Karen] No, but you may put on a little brilliantine.
Karen: I am fond of walking, you know. The one which you know.
Carla: It is a good thing to be here in such weather. In a week.
[Carla exits]
Isabella: [staring into the fire] I go there twice a week. In a few weeks.
Karen: The week of sighing. The well of strength.
Isabella: It is three weeks since. At the end of the week.
A clean kitchen. Jan is adjusting the clock. Bjørn is folding an umbrella.
Bjørn: But the giant was soon up with them, and, had they not fled, would certainly have killed them every one. The washerwoman has not sent home my drawers.
Jan: Well, you shall have the rooms for 25 Gulden, if you remain longer.
Bjørn: I shall leave the town tonight.
Jan: Will you go to the theatre to-night? Well, I am contented with that.
Bjørn: It comes out to fly in the evening. It is a fine evening.
Jan: And at 7 o'clock in the evening I leave by the train.
Bjørn: Then we were on the other side of the river.
Jan: [tenderly] I have read the whole of this work. I have read it with pleasure.
Bjørn: The weather is very bad, you cannot go out without an umbrella.
Jan: The exchange is not very advantageous at this moment. Such a friend is a treasure.
Bjørn: The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef.
Jan: [eating some beef] He set off this evening at nine o'clock. Let me be called at 5 o'clock.
[Jan exits]
An empty back room. A dog barks. Bjørn is lighting a cigar. Antoine is peeling an apple.
Bjørn: The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and the price of wisdom is eternal thought.
Antoine: That person whose aspect is so severe is the grenadier to whom the king spoke. Who is there?
Bjørn: She is my mother.
Antoine: Is this cat yours or theirs? I am astonished that your mother is gone. I noticed the absence of the fair sex.
Bjørn: I hear that you are going to leave us.
Antoine: Did you hear him tell that story?
Bjørn: Yes, I have a few cigars. Yes, he is wrong.
[Bjørn walks to the back of the stage]
Antoine: The dog made a severe wound in my arm. The hare was bigger than a horse. I like apples better than pears.
Bjørn: He also preys upon young hares and rabbits, eggs, honey, cheese, and apples. I inquired for the master of the house and was shown into the parlor.
[Antoine crosses the stage]
Antoine: [stubbing out a cigar] But the dog calls his attention to his leanness, and begs him to wait a while.
Bjørn: [unctuously] Not being able nor willing to lend him the money, I was obliged to tell him.
Antoine: [fancifully] The king will have the story told to him(self).
[Antoine tosses a coin]
Bjørn: [stubbing out a cigar] Thinking is the talking of the soul with itself.
A well-furnished bedroom. A fire burns. Carla and Nina are sitting at a table.
Nina: In many buildings there are not enough exits in case of fire. You must pay a small amount for the clothes.
Carla: If you put too much, you will put the fire out.
[Karen enters]
Karen: We should like to go to bed early and beg you to let us have a good fire. Gold is tried in fire, friends by misfortune.
Carla: Take care to inform me whether you have received my letter.
[Carla crosses the stage]
Nina: [tossing a coin] My father and mother have arrived today.
Karen: They are, and the girls are rather pretty.
Carla: You have let the fire go down.
Karen: You have not their knowledge. You are very kind.
Carla: I have not succeeded in my undertaking. I have spent a week in the country.
Karen: But nowhere have I found making progress so difficult as in Denmark.
Carla: I am really surprised that you should express such a sentiment.
Nina: [tossing a coin] Be sure that his head is clean.
Carla: The reason why he is arrested is known.
Nina: The house which I have seen is large. Two physicians will have to sign this certificate. [to Karen] They will be sick, if they are not kept clean.
Karen: Then you have learnt the language before your arrival in this country.
Nina: He must have a clean suit and clean underclothes.
Karen: [adding some twigs to the fire] We wish to have some gold changed into Danish coin. We wish to see some of the curiosities in Copenhagen.
Nina: [polishing a coin] Why don't you keep these children clean?
Karen: [sweetly] Ah, perhaps you don't know where to find the church. You know this is the main island.
[Carla exits]
Nina: Be sure that his clothes are clean.
Karen: These are the banks along the three lakes. Not so large as the boats running along the Thames.
Nina: Rinse the bottle out with boiling water to be sure it is clean.
Karen: Besides, he is obliged to be economical.
Nina: Be sure that his head is clean.
Karen: He saw his own children.
Nina: I have four children.
[Karen exits]
An overgrown path. The sky is clear. Carla is stirring a flask of tea. Dominik is removing his hat. Karen sits nearby.
Dominik: What concern have you in that? I save very much by that.
Carla: [eating some fruit] They have no tea. They have no water.
Dominik: He threw himself into the water.
Carla: He amuses himself so much there, that he does not speak of returning.
Dominik: He made himself useful to government.
Carla: What a deal of trouble papa gives himself for us!
Karen: What a treasure given to Copenhagen!
Carla: [ruggedly] Is he pleased with Paris? They are loaded with fruits.
Karen: If you please, Sir.
Carla: If you please.
Karen: The Mint, please?
Carla: The weather settles. The sun shines. [turning to Dominik] In the newest fashion.
Dominik: Some clouds are gathering on the horizon.
[Karen exits]
Carla: Let us rather go to the Museum.
[Bjørn enters]
Bjørn: I hear that you are going to leave us.
[Carla exits]
Dominik: It is rather too fine, too hard. These sheets have been used already.
Bjørn: [gregariously] I inquired for the master of the house and was shown into the parlor.
[Nina enters]
Dominik: The form of this hat is rather small.
[a horse whinnies]
Bjørn: The flesh of the hog is called pork.
Nina: The doctor at the hospital is a specialist.
Bjørn: [tightly] The ass though inferior to the horse is a very useful animal. In shape they approach very nearly to the figure of a man.
Dominik: [pouring some tea] They feel damp, I do not like them, I must have some others.
Bjørn: The dressmaker has not yet sent home her new dress.
Dominik: I have spoken rather harshly with him.
[Bjørn eats some fruit]
Bjørn: My sister has lost her bonnet, and my brother has lost his hat.
Nina: [eating some fruit] My poor sister has been ill for two days. Be brave.
Bjørn: [pouring some tea] My sister has a swelled face. My brother has but very litle gold.
Nina: [eating some fruit] Ask your mother to fix your hair.
A bright bar. The sky is clear outside. Bjørn is slicing a piece of pork. Antoine is watching a mule through the window.
Bjørn: On the least appearance of danger she gathers her chickens under her wings.
Antoine: The lawyer's daughter, who is here, is ill.
Bjørn: The flesh of the hog is called pork. Are you tired?
Antoine: He has just arrived.
Bjørn: He has not seen you. We will not see him.
Antoine: If he had not gone out, he would not have fallen. [pause] Same with me.
Bjørn: There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year. [thirstily] How is your wife?
Antoine: [directly] This menagerie is managed by my wife. The old king must have gotten impatient.
Bjørn: Is that the lowest price you could let me have it at? I beg you to accept my best thanks for the permission you have given me to shoot on your estate, and which you have so kindly communicated to me by your letter of today.
Antoine: If I had recognized the actors, I would have accosted them. The poor man thinks it is his doctor.
Bjørn: Of all animals the horse is perhaps the most useful to man.
Antoine: One of the mules enters with a deliberate step.
Bjørn: A cheesemonger is a dealer in butter and cheese. The sun rises and sets.
Antoine: The father and his daughters are tall.
A windswept churchyard. A fire burns. Otto is examining some money. Carla is stirring a mug of coffee. Jan sits nearby.
Otto: [adding some twigs to the fire] Can you mention any?
Carla: It is an invention. It is a charming evening.
[Otto approaches Jan]
Otto: I had a very interesting conversation with him, however.
Jan: [drearily] I have nothing to say to it.
Otto: [adding some twigs to the fire] I have nothing left that I could give. So we jumped to our feet, and with united efforts lifted it and released him from his dangerous position.
Carla: You have no time to spare, for it is very late already.
Otto: I have spent a good deal of money this year.
Jan: I have not made up my mind yet.
Carla: You have made me wait a long while.
[Dominik enters]
Jan: I have a great regard for him. I have heard nothing.
Carla: It is a great comfort to have such children. It is full a mile from our house to the church.
[Carla walks to the back of the stage]
Otto: He is said to have made Tell shoot an apple from his boy's head. I do not think your cousin could have done better than take this advice.
Carla: If it had not been for you I would have punished him.
Otto: Well, children, where was the house?
[Otto exits]
Carla: We shall go there one day or other. He says he will pay you one day or other.
Jan: [pouring some coffee] We shall be there in a quarter of an hour. We start in ten minutes.
Carla: He loves his children, and he is loved by them.
Jan: I have just received them. It has just ceased. [pause] It has just struck.
Carla: Thou hadst no children. Thou hast had no China.
Jan: [mundanely] You have chosen your time badly.
Dominik: I have only got twelve cards.
Jan: I have it only from hearsay.
[Carla crosses the stage]
Carla: Do you like children? Do you take cream with your coffee.
Jan: I do not like the dinner.
Carla: You have not kept the fire up.
Jan: I have no time.
Carla: You have no coffee. You have not been fat.
Jan: I have not eaten anything yet.
[Dominik exits]
Carla: I have not heard of any thing.
Jan: Have you heard nothing new? I will not hear anything of it.
Carla: I know nothing new. I know him very well.
Jan: I do not feel very well. The exchange is not very advantageous at this moment.
Carla: You do not go the right way about it. You are in the right way.
Jan: I do not know what to think about it. [pause] It is nearly midnight.
Carla: I do not know what to do with them. That loss will bear hard upon her.
Jan: I do not know what to do. One does not know what to think of it. What do you think of it?
Carla: I think so.
[Carla exits]
A warm corridor. Bjørn is peeling a vegetable. Marie is nearby.
Bjørn: My daughters never wear stays.
Marie: Pupils not studying can never succeed. Dost thou never receive them?
Bjørn: I don't think you are right. I can never get him to do anything. I am going out to do some shopping.
Marie: The books which you have lent me.
Bjørn: The market is never well supplied with vegetables.
Marie: The man to whom I have applied.
Bjørn: To whom must I apply? We never alter our prices for anybody, sir.
Marie: [salaciously] The women for whom you make some purchases.
Bjørn: Do you never eat sausage? He fears no danger, but he never attacks man unless driven to it by hunger.
[Marie exits]
A spacious corridor. Antoine is slicing a piece of cheese. Nina sits nearby.
Nina: Do you give them their meals as well as a room? Your teacher speaks well of you. You must all go out.
Antoine: I give this fruit to the teacher.
Nina: [eating some cheese] Can't you give them fruit instead?
Antoine: [gravely] Don't give her any. Don't give me any cheese.
Nina: [eating some cheese] Don't they give you enough blankets to keep you warm?
Antoine: Molière is going to give a sou to the beggar.
Nina: [forthrightly] She is getting worse all the time.
[Antoine exits]
A secluded forest. Karen is sorting money. Carla is nearby.
Karen: [graciously] I wonder that the inhabitants of Copenhagen don't prefer that street to all other large streets, as the opposite neighbours are the fine trees, shrubs and flowers of the extensive garden.
Carla: May and September are the two finest months of the year in France.
Karen: Do you know anything about the arrangements of steamers in Denmark? The break of the wave.
Carla: Yes I forgot to mention it. She is gone into the country.
Karen: He has not the least trouble in this world.
Carla: [apologetically] It is the easiest thing in the world.
Karen: You know this is the main island.
Carla: I think the chain is broken. I think it is stronger.
Karen: Now the steamer stops; do you hear they are letting off the steam. In the morning, I believe.
Carla: Your books are better bound than mine.
Karen: She took another person's money.
Carla: The fourth of the present month.
Karen: The noise of the lion.
Carla: The ink is too thick.
Karen: [tossing a coin] The darkness of the death.
Carla: He tires me to death. He tries to vex you.
Karen: He is a good teacher, I know.
Carla: It is very good for the health.
[Carla exits]
A bright ship at harbour. A boat is waiting. Bjørn, Nina and Antoine approach each other.
Nina: The dynamite is going off. This disease is infectious.
[Nina exits]
Bjørn: To wear tight stays must be injurious to the health.
Antoine: That boat yonder is going to depart.
Bjørn: What is going on in politics?
Antoine: He was going to give a lot of dinners.
Bjørn: Last summer I reared a nest of linnets.
[Bjørn exits]
A quiet tavern. Carla is wearing a coat. Antoine and Jan are sitting at a table.
Jan: My sister has a thorough knowledge of Dutch.
Antoine: That pig isn't worth the trouble of stealing it.
Carla: That is not worth mentioning. This coat is out of fashion.
Jan: It is not worth speaking about. I call that speaking out.
Carla: What is gold dust selling at an ounce?
Jan: [pulling up a chair at at the table] He is going to Germany. It is impossible for me to fulfil your wishes.
Carla: Six of us are going into the country, will you join us? Advise him to go into the country. [turning to Antoine] She is gone into the country.
Antoine: That pig isn't worth the trouble of stealing it.
[Antoine exits]
Carla: What is the price of this ring? It is the first of the month.
Jan: We are in the middle of summer.
Carla: Figure to yourself the doctor in the middle of a ball-room. The more you speak to your brother, the less he minds your advice.
[Antoine enters]
Jan: The lighting up of the house leaves much to be desired.
Carla: [roughly] That chain is not gold, it is gilt.
Jan: That is a good idea. That is divine. That is exquisite.
A peaceful corridor. A fire burns. Dominik is holding a letter. Isabella is leafing through a letter.
Dominik: He regards nobody. The prodigal son. [pause] The ball rebounded.
Isabella: What is the date of the letter you have in your hand?
Dominik: The bearer of the letter.
Isabella: I have a letter to write to-day.
Dominik: I have only to write the address. I have finished my letter. Try to decipher the letters.
Isabella: Take this letter to the Post Office, and pay the postage. How long does the train stop here?
Dominik: I acknowledge the receipt of your letter.
[Dominik crosses the stage]
Isabella: You have let the fire out.
Dominik: I like steel-pens better. Please to make this pen for me.
Isabella: Will you please tell me if there are any letters for me from Paris? Be good enough to bring me some envelopes, ink, pens and sealing-wax.
Dominik: [sanctimoniously] I will eat a bit of bread and butter.
Isabella: Give me a little bread and butter. I hope it will be nothing.
Dominik: You may guess a hundred times and yet you will not guess it. We have a great way to go.
Isabella: What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. What is the price of this ring.
Dominik: We shall soon be at the end of the fine summer days. We are in the midst of winter.
Isabella: When shall I have the pleasure of seeing you at my house?
Dominik: I hope I shall have the honour of seeing you again shortly. [pause] He got out of the scrape.
A secluded path. Isabella is adjusting her waistcoat. Antoine sits nearby.
Isabella: [vivaciously] How everything grows! How strange!
Antoine: I saw nothing strange. I shall send them there. I shall be at the queen's castle.
Isabella: Come and spend the evening at my house.
Antoine: He had himself led before the king.
Isabella: [intellectually] I am going home to dinner.
Antoine: I am going to take you to my house.
Isabella: You cannot castle after having moved your king.
Antoine: The king's courtiers have not killed any game.
Isabella: The waistcoat is not well made.
Antoine: The man whose son is dead. The man who is in front of the house.
Isabella: We are not far from the house.
Antoine: He cannot fail to be surprised. The house was surrounded by trees. The king wanted them to raise the curtain.
Isabella: I was in hopes you would have given me checkmate. I will show you his house. You will find him at his house.
Antoine: If the king heard this talked of, he would have me arrested.
A quiet path. Marie is examining a hammer. Nina is nearby.
Nina: Heat a plate. Get a pick.
Marie: Half an hour. I receive him no more.
Nina: [saucily] How many doses did you give him today?
Marie: He did deceive himself. Thou didst deceive thyself.
Nina: He is one of the finest in the country.
Marie: The brother and the sister love each other. Several reasons.
Nina: [picking up a hammer] There were many ladies at the theatre.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Nina: Have you any brothers and sisters? I need many things. Do you need anything else?
Marie: [sombrely] No son of mine shall become an actor. [inwardly] Have I not some?
[Otto enters]
Nina: I have seen the house. I have given them six.
Marie: [putting down a hammer] The striking hammers made the building tremble. [to Otto] Ah, indeed!
Otto: Who does not hope that we will now be able to live in peace?
Nina: If he does not behave, he will be sent to the reform school.
[Jan enters]
Otto: I do not know how I got out of the house. But do you know who he is? [pause] Now you know that does not agree with me.
Nina: I do not know what to do. No, I do not know how to read.
Otto: Don't wish for what does not belong to you.
Nina: [quixotically] Gain his confidence, and he will do what you want him to.
Marie: What person, what thing displeases you? He should have been.
Nina: I want what I have asked for.
Otto: But whom do you take him for?
Nina: [picking up a hammer] It will hurt you if you take more.
Otto: I am sure I brought it home. We are going home.
Nina: [putting down a hammer] I am sure that you want to be self-supporting.
Marie: You shall have been.
Jan: We shall have a fine day yet. When shall we be at the railway station?
Marie: [cautiously] He shall have been. We shall have been.
Jan: Yes, there has been a hard frost.
[Otto exits, never to return]
Marie: No daughter of mine shall be an actress.
Jan: How long shall we take to cross? He is only six years old.
Marie: The year eighteen hundred and ninety-two. The gentleman who entered first was my father.
[Marie exits]
Jan: We are only waiting for those gentlemen who are going with us.
Nina: I am thirty years old. I am fifty years old.
Jan: [intellectually] I am twenty years old.
Nina: He is ten months old. He is four months old.
Jan: He is entering his 93rd year.
A quiet cafe. Dominik and Isabella sit around a table.
Dominik: A fever carried him off in two days.
Isabella: I have changed my mind.
Dominik: You have tired your horse.
Isabella: I have the first move.
Dominik: You have made a mistake. I have made a false stroke.
Isabella: I have everything you can desire. I have left something at home.
Dominik: I have every thing I want about me. We have a very hot summer.
[Dominik exits]
A quiet theatre bar. Isabella is carrying a portmanteau. Marie stands at the door.
Marie: They have been. We have been.
Isabella: I have been thinking of that. I wish you good morning.
Marie: Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable.
Isabella: I have to take my sister to the theatre.
Marie: Which one of your daughters is the eldest?
Isabella: You need not take it to heart. Yes.
Marie: Take this. All his letters.
Isabella: Yes, take this portmanteau.
Marie: What a misfortune!
[Bjørn enters]
Isabella: What a pity!
Bjørn: What is it? [languorously] It was very dark.
A bright public park. The sky is clear. Isabella is pouring a mug of coffee. Marie is examining some money.
Marie: He has been.
Isabella: [pouring some coffee] Here is coffee.
Marie: [pouring some coffee] He is loved.
Isabella: [peacefully] White coffee. They are books of history, mathematics, philosophy, divinity, physics and law.
Marie: There was something in his character which displeased me.
Isabella: There was no fish in the market.
Marie: [rashly] Who is not for me is against me.
Isabella: What remains for us to do? That is fortunate.
Marie: At his house.
[Carla enters]
Carla: Stop at this house. I came from his house.
Isabella: A man's house is his castle.
Carla: I saw four fine horses in his stable.
Isabella: You have a very fine collection of flowers.
Marie: Your behavior toward your brothers is objectionable. Which one of your daughters is the eldest? [pause] My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
Carla: Winter is at last over. Dinner is over.
Marie: Which one is the least difficult of your lessons?
Carla: He is the best of my friends.
Isabella: He has given me many proofs of his friendship.
Marie: I have given him some pieces of money.
[Nina enters]
[Isabella drinks some coffee]
Nina: We have lived here nine months. We have no flowers.
[Nina walks to the back of the stage]
Isabella: No, I shall dine with some friends in town and return late. Do they say who received the letter?
Nina: No, he did not give me any. He would not give me any.
Marie: You did deceive yourselves.
Isabella: I will give you the same. I will see you no more. It will cost you more.
Nina: You will have very crooked shoulders if you write in that position.
Marie: I have not seen him for a long time. I have not spoken to them.
[Nina crosses the stage]
Nina: [drinking some coffee] You will not get well if you don't do as you are told. You will have to pay what you are able.
Marie: Not a man, not a woman has come to see me.
Nina: No, I do not know how to read. [pause] How are you?
Carla: If you sell your horses, you will lose by them.
Marie: My friends excepted. No friend. [polishing a coin] He is near his friend.
Carla: This greyhound exceeds the fox in swiftness.
Marie: She is among good friends. You have spoken.
Carla: She is unworthy of your friendship.
Nina: There is no need of coming. There is nothing to be ashamed of.
[Carla smiles at Nina]
Carla: You ought to be ashamed.
Nina: I ought to hurry. I must go home.
Carla: I beg your pardon, I ought not to have made you wait so long. You have made me wait a long while.
Marie: My father, mother, and sister have arrived.
Isabella: Spare the rod and spoil the child. The year one thousand nine hundred and fifteen.
Carla: I am ashamed of the trouble I give you. She was living, not long ago.
[Nina exits]
Isabella: [drinking some coffee] Are you not ashamed? I could not sleep.
Carla: No not yet.
Isabella: Go to the left. To be on the alert. [pause] To sleep over it.
Marie: He who does not obey the laws is not a good citizen.
Isabella: See that the water is not too hot. This water is not hot enough. That does not magnify enough.
Marie: Do not unto others that which thou wouldst not like to be done unto thee.
[Isabella exchanges glances with Marie]
Isabella: [unenthusiastically] I should like to be home early. I like to get up early.
Marie: They have told each other some hard truths.
Isabella: We love each other like brothers. I think so.
Marie: [drinking some coffee] Which one of your daughters is the eldest? Like master, like servant.
Isabella: Like master, like man.
Carla: Put some water in my basin. You cannot castle after having moved your king.
Isabella: No, thank you, I cannot stay.
Carla: [drinking some coffee] I cannot tell you.
Isabella: I cannot walk.
Carla: You cannot say your lesson. I cannot play with you.
Isabella: I cannot tell you exactly.
Marie: You shall be. We shall be.
Isabella: I think I shall sleep well. I cannot restrain the aversion I feel for him.
Marie: No daughter of mine shall be an actress. No son of mine shall become an actor.
[Marie drinks some coffee]
Isabella: Under this large oak we shall be sheltered from the sun. [gleefully] I emphatically deny it.
[Isabella exits]
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's. He shall be.
Carla: [rowdily] This is the place where that man was killed.
[Carla exits]
A sunny beach. Antoine, Marie and Nina approach each other.
Nina: It will cost nothing. It is nothing.
Marie: Being less great is not being small. He loves even his enemies.
Nina: There is nothing beautiful here. [pause] Yes, I remember it.
Marie: Which one is the least difficult of your lessons?
Nina: She is three years old.
Marie: He is near his friend. Receivest thou nothing?
Nina: [irritably] There is nothing else. There is no time to lose.
Marie: I hear vociferating people in the street. Thou wilt be.
Nina: There is nothing to be ashamed of.
[Marie exits]
Antoine: There is nothing to be astonished about.
A spacious church. It is raining outside. Nina is examining some money. Jan is pouring a glass of wine. Bjørn is wearing a hat.
Jan: It hails.
Nina: I want nothing.
Jan: I know nothing.
Nina: I lack nothing.
Jan: [genially] He said nothing.
Bjørn: It is a sad thing.
Jan: It is astonishing.
Bjørn: It is bad weather.
Jan: It is mild weather today. It cannot be.
Bjørn: It did not rain yesterday. It is not an animal.
Jan: [drinking some wine] I will not mix up in this affair. It is not in his nature. [eating some beef] He is not right in his senses.
[Bjørn eats some beef]
Nina: Do not let your baby lie with a strong light in his eyes.
[Karen enters]
Jan: I am quite a stranger to this town.
Nina: Time and money are needed to do this.
[Karen crosses the stage]
Jan: Waiter give me the bill of fare and the wine list.
Nina: Have you the money to pay for it?
Jan: Have the kindness to sit down.
Nina: We have nothing to do. We are going to Paris.
Jan: I have nothing to say to it. I will have nothing to do with it.
Nina: Put by something each week, then you will have it when you are in need.
Jan: Then I will take it in florins.
Nina: The judge has put him on probation.
Jan: The postman has brought me a letter.
Nina: This woman must be kept quiet. He must be kept quiet.
Karen: That may justly be called neighbouring states. Do you know, that my brother has bought an estate? [pause] You have perhaps bought your experience.
Jan: Yes, there has been a hard frost.
Bjørn: Has the man been here?
Jan: Here is the bill. How much is the bill?
Nina: My poor sister has been ill for two days. Put it on his stomach.
Jan: Your aunt appears to be very old. Your son appears to be weak.
Bjørn: My sister has lost her bonnet, and my brother has lost his hat. I am sorry to hear that your sister is ill.
Karen: No, because he has some talent for poetry, and my uncle is fond of poetry. Of what size the island is?
Bjørn: He might be the father of the girl. [turning to Jan] Thank you, but I must not stop.
Jan: My kindest remembrances to your mother.
Bjørn: [pugnaciously] Do not speak to me. Do not speak to me of it.
Jan: I wanted to speak to you urgently.
Bjørn: He loved his mother.
Jan: We love each other like brothers.
Bjørn: [drinking some wine] The little boy is my nephew, and the little girl is my niece. The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef.
A warm bedroom. Dominik is sorting money. Carla is polishing a watch.
Carla: Go and sit down in your place.
Dominik: [shouting] He never stays in any place. He never carries money about him.
Carla: He has a country way about him.
[Isabella enters]
Dominik: [polishing a coin] It is all over with him.
Carla: It is a new watch.
Dominik: It is a money-match.
[Marie enters]
Carla: It is an old watch. It is not late.
Dominik: It is a moderate price.
[Carla exits]
Marie: It is goodness itself. One deceives one's self.
Dominik: It is for decency's sake.
Marie: At the price of his honor he has capitulated.
Dominik: At what price does he sell it? This poor lad is dead.
Marie: I have given him some pieces of money. I have seen but one person.
Dominik: If I go so far as to marry, I will choose some one young, handsome and rich. [to Isabella] I must leave you.
Isabella: I am just going out and shall get the money at my banker's.
Dominik: [wearily] Here is the money, and this is for the attendance. It is a very rich language and very fit for poetry and eloquence. He has advanced money for this enterprise.
[Dominik exits]
Isabella: I see in your catalogue a great many splendid editions at a very high price.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's. This one is yours and that one is his.
Isabella: As you make your bed so you must lie on it.
[Marie exits]
A bright churchyard. Karen is sorting coins. Marie sits nearby.
Marie: [haughtily] They did deceive themselves. At his house.
Karen: The noise of the lion. The singers of the forest.
[Karen crosses the stage]
Marie: Which one of your daughters is the eldest?
Karen: I wonder, if those girls are the "Amagerpiger".
Marie: She surpassed all the other girls in beauty, grace, and loveliness.
Karen: They are, and the girls are rather pretty. Nothing is so tiresome as those drawling or hasty explanations given by persons without intelligence, without due perception of eminent natural gifts and masterworks.
Marie: Brothers and sisters should love one another. They have injured each other.
Karen: Sir, and I will try to prove you my remark.
Marie: You will have spoken. He will have spoken.
Karen: [unlocking a door] We wish to have some gold changed into Danish coin. [pause] Now I think we may lock it again.
Marie: This one is my brother's and that one is my sister's.
Karen: Remember that I am an old friend of your father, and your godfather.
A peaceful tavern. The sky is clear outside. Isabella is watching the clock. Bjørn enters and sits down.
Bjørn: I have no time to spare. I have only a few words to say.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] I have a letter to write to-day.
Bjørn: The weather is mild to-day. The sun rises and sets.
Isabella: Fine feathers make fine birds.
Bjørn: One of these days.
Isabella: I will come one of these days. I will give you the same.
Bjørn: [unnaturally] There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year.
Isabella: Tell him to send the bill with it.
[Bjørn walks to the edge of the stage]
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] They will find the house. He lives in this house.
Isabella: You will find him at his house.
Bjørn: They will find the boy.
Isabella: They will soon be over.
Bjørn: He will soon be back.
Isabella: It will soon be two o'clock.
Bjørn: It is one o'clock. It is bad weather.
[Bjørn exits]
A pleasant theatre lobby. Leaves blow past the window. The sky is clear outside the window. Jan is watching the clock. Bjørn is slicing a piece of pork.
Jan: Good morning. I wish you good morning.
Bjørn: I wish you a very good morning. Speak rationally.
Jan: He was born yesterday morning at five o'clock.
Bjørn: The storm, I suppose, kept you at home this morning? The price of pork is frequently higher than that of venison.
Jan: [salaciously] The exchange is not very advantageous at this moment. [looking at the clock] How much do you ask for these lodgings?
Bjørn: [eating some pork] Sparrows build their nests under the eaves of houses. Will you not take some toast?
Jan: I do not like that.
Bjørn: You did not believe me. No, sir; not this time.
Jan: At about this time. It is time.
[Isabella enters]
Isabella: At about ten.
Jan: It cannot be. I cannot.
Isabella: I cannot walk. I cannot win.
[leaves blow across the stage]
Jan: [callously] I cannot thank you enough for it. I want to ask you a favour.
Isabella: I cannot promise it you before a fortnight.
Jan: Will you go to the theatre to-night?
Isabella: I will settle with him to-night.
Jan: Then I will take it in florins. The wind is going down.
Isabella: Then I will have it bound in green. I will be with you in a minute.
[Marie enters]
Bjørn: You will find everything you want there.
Isabella: I have everything you can desire.
Marie: You have been.
Jan: I have been told that.
Marie: I have spoken to them. I have not spoken to them.
Jan: [eating some pork] Then you shall have them for 30 Gulden a mouth.
[Jan smiles at Isabella]
Marie: They shall have been. Thou shalt have been.
Jan: When shall we be at the railway station?
Bjørn: She went to the country yesterday.
Jan: I am going into the country.
Bjørn: [eating some pork] Let us go down into the cabin.
Jan: With the best will in the world I cannot do it.
Bjørn: Nothing is wanting, all is right, here is your money.
Jan: He is not right in his senses.
Bjørn: The sun rises and sets.
A smart hotel room. A fire burns. A dog barks. Leaves blow past the window. Isabella is writing a letter. Marie is leafing through a letter.
Marie: [looking at the clock] I have not there.
Isabella: You have not taken care of the fire. He is tall for his age.
Marie: Have I not been there?
Isabella: I do not believe it.
Marie: I have not been it. I have not spoken of it.
Isabella: I have just received your letter of the 10th inst.
Marie: [drinking some tea] They have pleased each other. You had spoken.
Isabella: They lead a cat and dog life. There was a great need of it.
Marie: They have told each other some hard truths. These facts supposed.
Isabella: You have almost smothered the fire.
Marie: I have written the letters. We should have spoken.
[Marie pours some tea]
Isabella: [pouring some tea] You have let the fire out.
Marie: I have there.
Isabella: What have you there?
Marie: Thou shalt have been. One has spoken.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] They should have been subdued. Where shall we have tea?
Marie: He should have been. One should have been. He shall have been.
Isabella: I should be very pleased if I could speak half as many.
Marie: You would have spoken.
Isabella: I should like to have my bill.
Marie: Thou wouldst have spoken. Children obeying their teachers are praised.
[Isabella glances at Marie]
Isabella: You have forgotten to bring the sugar.
Marie: I have not there.
Isabella: You have not kept the fire up. You have not yet seen my flowers.
Marie: I have not seen him for a long time.
Isabella: You have not taken care of the fire. But he must take care of himself. I must take leave of you.
Marie: [yearningly] At the price of his honor he has capitulated. I have as much of this as of that.
[Nina enters]
Nina: It is against the law for a child to work in a factory or shop.
Marie: [rapidly] I have not dared to do it for fear of displeasing my father. I shall feign some kind of business.
[Marie exits]
Isabella: Take the shovel and put some coal on the fire.
Nina: What kind of coal do you burn?
Isabella: The fire begins to blaze. There is toast.
Nina: Why does that fire smoke so? They make him too hot. They are kind to animals.
Isabella: Now the fire is very good. A wood fire does not give so much heat.
Nina: Put it in very hot water or very cold water, rub and bind tightly. Put the feet in hot mustard water. Bathe him in warm water.
Isabella: If you put on too much, you will put the fire out. You may rely upon me.
Nina: Instead of putting his feet in hot water, wring out cloths in very hot water.
Isabella: It is not too warm in summer nor too cold in winter. You have not taken care of the fire.
[Bjørn enters]
Bjørn: In going down, take care you do not fall. They would make a fire. Wolves are much afraid of fire.
[Bjørn exits]
Nina: To stop the bleeding, bathe the cut with very hot or very cold water.
Isabella: The fire begins to blaze.
Nina: When did he begin to walk?
Isabella: When all comes to all. He generally comes home early.
Nina: The mother loves her son. Try to keep your book clean.
Isabella: Yes, I had a letter from him yesterday.
Nina: Better today than tomorrow.
Isabella: [impertinently] Better late than never.
Nina: Let me look at them. Let out the rope.
Isabella: See that the water is not too hot.
Nina: [adding some twigs to the fire] Test the heat with your elbow to be sure that the water is not too hot. Rinse the bottle out with boiling water to be sure it is clean.
Isabella: Waiter, a little more hot water. Waiter, the bill.
Nina: [lamely] Wash it with cold boiled water and bind it up.
Isabella: What is the price of this ring.
Nina: What is the number of the page? Loosen it.
Isabella: [undiplomatically] This water is not hot enough. The gown is not wide enough.
[Bjørn enters]
Nina: There are some people who say that the water in Rome is not pure.
Isabella: Give me a glass of water. Give me only half of it.
[a cat purrs]
Nina: If you really wanted work, you could get it.
Isabella: Give me some warm water. I want also some lavender-water and some eau de Cologne. I have also violet, rose, and orange-flower.
Nina: Spread a paste of baking soda and water on a thin piece of linen and put it on the burn to keep out the air.
Isabella: Waiter, a little more hot water. I should like a little more sugar.
Nina: If he does not feel better by tomorrow, you should have a doctor see him.
Isabella: I am expecting a letter from X today, do me the favour to send to the Post Office to enquire if there are any letters for me. [pause] It has stopped.
Nina: You must report this case at once to the Board of Health or I will do so.
[a dog growls]
Isabella: I am not pleased with the watch you sold me.
Bjørn: You have not starched the collars enough.
Isabella: I have not been able to close my eyes all night.
Bjørn: I shall leave the town tonight.
[Dominik enters]
Nina: It had already become night. Where do they sleep?
Bjørn: We saw the comet last night by the help of a telescope.
Nina: Is there a place where you can sleep out-of-doors?
Dominik: In a fortnight. It will soon be night.
Nina: Keep your windows open winter and summer, day and night.
Dominik: [pensively] How did you sleep last night? I wish you would find me in bed-linen.
[Dominik exits]
Nina: [drinking some tea] Take two teaspoonfuls of this medicine every half hour before going to bed at night. Are you feverish at night? [pause] Don't let the baby sleep in the same bed with you.
Isabella: Yes, I forgot to mention it.
Nina: Do not walk around on it.
Isabella: To sleep over it.
Bjørn: I shall leave the town tonight.
Isabella: Did you hear the thunder last night? Where is the nearest money-changer's?
Nina: There is less gold than silver.
Isabella: There is much snow. There is no news.
Nina: [firmly] He is more studious than my brother. She is more polite than Lucy. My hat is better than yours.
[Isabella walks to the back of the stage]
Isabella: Let us call on your brother on our way.
Nina: [adding some twigs to the fire] You must call for him before six o'clock.
Bjørn: I have not been able to come before 5 o'clock.
Nina: Have you been to them for money?
[Bjørn glares at Nina]
Isabella: Drive me to the Victoria Hotel. Give me another pillow.
[Isabella exits]
Nina: If you go to a sanatorium now, you may get well.
Bjørn: These shades do not match well.
Nina: There is nothing else. Are you in debt now?
[Dominik enters]
Bjørn: It is beautiful weather. It is a head wind.
Nina: It is fine weather. It is the fifth.
Dominik: The wind is tolerably fair.
[Dominik exits]
Nina: What kind of weather is it? It is evident that it will rain soon.
Bjørn: The weather is mild to-day. It did not rain yesterday.
Nina: Better today than tomorrow.
[Nina exits]
A bright bridge. Marie is cleaning a hammer. Nina is wearing a coat.
Marie: [disgracefully] She surpassed all the other girls in beauty, grace, and loveliness.
Nina: I worked there three years and two months. I write of them and of her.
Marie: Brothers and sisters should love one another.
Nina: [picking up a hammer] This baby should have barley water. Does it hurt you to eat?
Marie: Let her be loved.
Nina: [tragically] Look at the board. Copy from the board.
Marie: [putting down a hammer] I hear the hammers striking the anvil.
Nina: [putting down a hammer] Do me the favor to bring my coat here.
Marie: You were deceiving yourselves. [putting down a hammer] No lady friend.
Nina: You yourselves are kind. Jump off.
[Nina exits]
A pleasant church. A dog barks. A fire burns. It is raining outside the window. Jan is watching the clock. Isabella is holding a letter.
Isabella: [empathetically] Take me first to St. John Street, number four.
[Dominik enters]
Jan: I advise you to be here by 6 o'clock at latest. Take your ticket quickly.
Dominik: Take the children ont for a walk. They have included him in that accusation.
Isabella: What is the date of the letter you have in your hand?
Dominik: Take care of your health.
Isabella: Take a seat. Take your seats!
Dominik: Take care, lest you cut me.
Isabella: Take this letter to Madam E. and wait for the answer. [pause] He speaks Spanish fairly well.
Dominik: Take this telegram to the telegraph-office.
Jan: Take it as a warning.
Isabella: [shrewdly] Take it for a pattern, and all the others will fit well. Take the shovel and put some coal on the fire.
[Antoine enters]
Jan: Take your ticket quickly. Take your places Gentlemen.
Isabella: Take off a little only. Air it a little. I speak it a little.
Antoine: No author is more celebrated for his wit than he. [pause] When you find it, give it to me.
Isabella: Take this letter to Madam E. and wait for the answer.
Antoine: It is easier to learn it in France than at home.
Isabella: [curtly] It is very warm in this country.
Antoine: France is a beautiful country.
Isabella: It is beautiful weather. It is most delightful weather.
Antoine: It is better to stay, it is going to rain.
Isabella: Take this letter to the Post Office, and pay the postage. [pause] Do not disappoint me.
Jan: [adding a log to the fire] Take your ticket quickly. Two places in the stranger's box.
Antoine: He is the best pupil in the class. He was in the best humor in the world.
Jan: The moon is in the first quarter.
Dominik: The moon shines. I am perfectly at my ease.
Jan: The moon is in the last quarter.
Dominik: At moonshine.
Isabella: Its composition is fine.
[everybody turns to look at Jan]
Dominik: The moon wanes. They do not want it.
Isabella: [looking at the clock] The gown is not wide enough. It is moonlight.
Dominik: I am not connoisseur enough to judge of that.
Antoine: She has enough to live on.
Jan: He is going to Germany.
Antoine: She is going to have a dress made.
Jan: [adding some twigs to the fire] It is the new moon.
Antoine: I saw the men appear.
Jan: [eating some bread] I am reading the newspaper. I am dying with pain.
Antoine: Gascons are the biggest liars in the world, they-say.
[Dominik looks at the clock]
Dominik: You are knitting the whole day.
Antoine: It is fitting that she remain here.
Isabella: It is only two steps from here. [turning to Dominik] This bread is good.
[Bjørn enters]
Dominik: I can write Polish and translate from French into Polish. My strength fails me.
Isabella: You cannot castle after having moved your king. Put some water in my basin. [pause] It rains very fast.
Dominik: I will not meddle any more with your concerns.
Jan: I will not hear anything of it.
Dominik: My dog will start it. Nothing can be knocked into his head.
Jan: I will have nothing to do with it. [pause] What news is there in the town?
Dominik: This is the way of the world.
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] He might be the father of the girl.
[Bjørn exits]
Dominik: He has brought the matter to bear.
[Dominik exits]
A peaceful railway platform. Leaves blow across the stage. It is snowing. A fire burns. Dominik and Karen stand together.
Karen: [musingly] There are railways in the island of Sealand. Indeed! Is it the pronunciation you find difficult?
[Isabella enters]
Dominik: The French pronunciation is very easy. The French language is very agreeable.
Karen: [adding a log to the fire] The weather is changeable.
Dominik: The wind has changed, veered about.
[Nina enters]
Nina: Open the window top and bottom.
Dominik: The law-suit is now at a stand.
Karen: The state is raised. She will soon go away.
Dominik: The snow is melting away. The sun rises.
Karen: [touchily] The mother measures. The sun shines.
Dominik: The horse started aside. That house is situated in a valley.
Karen: The guide is acquainted with them all.
Dominik: He is a favourite with the galleries.
Isabella: Here it is, with the chess men.
Karen: The noise of the lion. The singers of the forest.
[Karen exits]
Isabella: What is bred in the bone will never come out of the flesh. What is the price of this pin?
Dominik: He is the very picture of his mother.
Isabella: [adding some twigs to the fire] What is the price of this ring.
Nina: What is the number of the page? [pause] He will probably not get here till this afternoon.
Isabella: [hysterically] I like the odour of the violet.
[Nina exits]
Dominik: [surprisedly] I have got hold of the thief. [pause] This play is a bad imitation of Shakespeare.
Isabella: One would think that the order of the seasons had been reversed. The letters must be posted before half-past five, if you want them to go by the evening mail.
Dominik: The fountain in the middle of the square is very elegant.
Isabella: [unambitiously] What is the date of the letter you have in your hand? She is in the flower of her youth. It is in the style of Rembrandt.
Dominik: This picture is executed in the style of Rubens. What is your favourite style?
Isabella: What a poor fire!
Dominik: What a fine espalier! That is a token of fine weather.
Isabella: What a fine bed you have of them! What is the day of the month?
[Isabella walks to the back of the stage]
Dominik: It is a pity that the pulpit is in so bad a style.
Isabella: See that the water is not too hot. That great master formed a style adapted to great effects. [boyishly] That report has proved false.
Dominik: [adding a log to the fire] He is quite well, I am much obliged to you for the interest you take in his health.
[Dominik exits]
A pleasant tavern. A fire burns. Isabella and Antoine enter and sit down at a table.
Isabella: You may clear the table. You have let the fire out.
Antoine: The melons that I have eaten were good. The doors have not yet been opened.
Isabella: There are very good sketches from the correspondent at the seat of war.
Antoine: Here are the letters that they wrote each other.
Isabella: Be careful that they put clean sheets on.
[Isabella exits]
A warm corridor. Marie, Nina and Dominik walk together.
Marie: [barefacedly] Do I not speak to him about it?
Dominik: No, you are to bring me back again.
[Dominik exits]
Marie: Do I not speak to him of it? Do I speak to him of it?
Nina: Roll over to the left.
Marie: I have written the letters.
Nina: I have given them six. I have been here three months.
[Nina exits]
A modern church. Leaves blow past the window. It is raining outside. Jan is peeling an egg. Nina sits nearby.
Jan: Have you forgotten nothing? I have forgotten to wind it up.
Nina: No, I have not been to him.
Jan: I have been told that. I have a cold.
[Nina examines a passport]
Nina: I want the book that you have.
Jan: I want two eggs boiled soft, with my tea.
Nina: Have you a cold in your head?
Jan: Give me some cold meat with my breakfast. Give me some coffee.
[Jan eats some meat]
Nina: Have you asked help of your church?
Jan: [pouring some tea] He is as poor as a church mouse. The receiver is as bad as the thief.
Nina: This carpenter is as good as he is clever.
[Jan smiles at Nina]
Jan: That is a good idea.
Nina: That is too high. That is too low. That is enough.
Jan: [sentimentally] The bed room is not light enough. There is not the slightest doubt of it.
Nina: That is not the right way to do it.
Jan: It is permitted to doubt it. To frighten some one.
Nina: It is evident that it will rain soon. Do as he tells you.
Jan: I assure you that I will not do it. I assure you it is not my fault. No one is without any fault.
Nina: If you remain here, you will expose all the rest of your family to the disease.
Jan: I shall remain here at least three months. Please to tell me.
Nina: [pouring some tea] I have been here three months. We have lived here nine months.
Jan: Are the passports vised by the consul?
Nina: Use these words in sentences.
A bright theatre lobby. A fire burns. Antoine is watching a mule through the window. Dominik sits nearby.
Dominik: The roads are but indifferent.
Antoine: There was a revolution in France. She says she is only thirty!
Dominik: Every one in this world has his own cross to bear. Every one should mind his own business.
Antoine: A horse that had no bit wouldn't have his mouth covered with foam. I was on the point of greeting him.
Dominik: I only turned over the leaves. [pause] The sky is quite covered with clouds.
Antoine: I've only eaten three fish. Here is the only fire there is in the house.
Dominik: I only let by the month. I only sketched the outlines.
[Antoine approaches Dominik]
Antoine: I only have half a pound of tobacco, but I'll give you half of it. She has gone to get the doctor.
Dominik: You need only drop it into the box.
Antoine: I give this fruit to the teacher.
Dominik: He is only good for the comical play.
Antoine: [eating some fruit] Have they sent for the doctor? I went to the theatre. I shall send them there.
Dominik: He put into the port.
Antoine: He had lost the opportunity. I have not had the opportunity to see his play.
Dominik: The opportunity slips away.
Antoine: It is an important matter. It is half past seven.
Dominik: He has importuned me very much.
Antoine: They are mounted on their mules.
A peaceful office. Dominik is pouring a flask of tea. Carla and Bjørn enter and sit down at their desks.
Carla: [venomously] I take great care never to remain idle. No, sir, I do not.
[Karen enters]
Bjørn: You are very obliging, sir.
Dominik: I am very hungry. See that every thing is ready. He has arranged every thing himself.
Bjørn: I was very hungry when I sat down to dinner. How much longer?
Dominik: No such flourishings. To die, to perish.
[Nina enters]
Bjørn: I am very much obliged to you.
Dominik: I should be very much pleased with this place.
Bjørn: They struck him over the head with a thick stick.
Dominik: She dances very gracefully, with much affection.
Bjørn: [pouring some tea] I am very grateful for your kindness.
[Bjørn exits]
Dominik: Let the tea draw for some minutes. [pause] I stayed there three hours.
Carla: In fact, I have seen figures of yours in crayon, which pleased me very much. [pause] Is there an annual public exhibition of paintings in this place?
Karen: [pouring some tea] As for the dress, it is a very becoming one. [to Dominik] Destiny is deceitful.
[Karen exits]
Dominik: Every thing comes to an end in this world.
Nina: It is very important to keep the mouth clean.
Dominik: I am very sorry if we must part. I am very sensible to your kind attention.
Nina: You must take every precaution to keep others from getting it.
Dominik: Is every one admitted to the mint? Yes Sir, it is shown to every one who wishes to see it.
Nina: Yes, a little too fast for me.
Dominik: Make a little room for me. He has fitted up his house very well.
Carla: It gains a quarter of an hour every day.
Dominik: [drinking some tea] After a quarter of a year. It is a quarter past two. It is a quarter to two.
Nina: It is against the law for him to work.
A clean kitchen. It is snowing outside the window. Antoine is holding a letter. Marie approaches.
Antoine: That person whose aspect is so severe is the grenadier to whom the king spoke.
[Dominik enters]
Marie: [hazily] The brother and the sister love each other.
[Marie exits]
Antoine: The father and his daughters are tall.
Dominik: The hair of her head is white like snow.
Antoine: The bearer of the letter gives it to her.
Dominik: The sun shines, it is sunshine.
[snow falls]
Antoine: The poor man thinks it is his doctor. Impossible!
Dominik: To persevere in a design.
Antoine: The king is a ridiculous man.
Dominik: The horses are come. The horses ran away. The castle is going to decay.
Antoine: The innkeeper asks that he be informed when the king arrives. I had gotten that far when John arrived.
Dominik: The police having entered that gaming-house seized the whole company and the money. I am sensible, that religion is the only comfort of the unfortunate.
Antoine: The curate saw him take the money, therefore he went straight to him and accused him of theft.
[Antoine exits]
An empty churchyard. It is snowing. Bjørn is awakening from sleep. Jan enters.
Bjørn: As I just observed, I was but a boy, scarcely eleven years of age, and my heart died within me, as, leaning forth my body from the window, I plainly distinguished the whole pack turning the corner of the church and advancing in full cry towards the spot above which I stood. What news is there?
Jan: Yes, it snows fast.
Bjørn: [turbulently] Yes, it is true. Yes, he is wrong. Well, that is right!
Jan: It is not in his nature.
Bjørn: It is not an animal. No, it is yet early.
[snow falls]
Jan: This room does not please me, it is too dark. What a vexatious occurrence!
Bjørn: Will you leave your hats and coats here, gentlemen? The old gentleman is my grandfather, another of the gentlemen is my father-in-law. The garrets are rooms at the top of the house in which the servants sleep.
Jan: Tickets, ladies and gentlemen. Give me something to drink.
Bjørn: The young gentleman is my cousin. The two young ladies are my sisters-in-law.
Jan: Then let us drive there first.
Bjørn: We were there twice. Were we there when you came?
Jan: Yes, there has been a hard frost. You cannot imagine.
Bjørn: My sister has a headache. My sister has a swelled face. [pause] He has not seen you.
A modern tavern. Antoine and Marie sit around a table.
Antoine: The former was better dressed than the latter.
Marie: [pulling up a chair at at the table] They have pleased each other. They have told each other some hard truths. What hard truths they have told each other!
Antoine: You ought to have told me in the first place what was the cause of the delay. I didn't do anything of the sort.
[Jan enters]
Jan: In the afternoon I wish to see the Pinacothek and the Glyptothek.
Antoine: [busily] He is mistaken, he did not see the king. He had himself led before the king.
Marie: He spends his time in drinking, eating, and gambling. She surpassed all the other girls in beauty, grace, and loveliness.
Antoine: [jestingly] The former was better dressed than the latter. The young women were not at the theater.
Jan: Waiter give me the bill of fare and the wine list.
Antoine: When he had left the table, the chance was lost.
Jan: Lessing's Nathan will be performed tomorrow for the last time. Well, I will take him for three days.
Antoine: The hare is as big as the one that I killed yesterday. This bridge is not as long as the other.
Jan: The receiver is as bad as the thief.
Antoine: The bourgeois has eaten all he has.
Jan: He was born yesterday morning at five o'clock.
Marie: Of what you spoke yesterday has happened.
A bright ship at harbour. The sky is clear. Bjørn is slicing a piece of ham. Karen is winding a clock. Nina sits nearby.
Nina: Wait an hour after feeding and then bathe him.
Bjørn: [zestily] Will you be kind enough to pass me the ham?
Nina: [looking at the clock] She is old enough to be sent to school.
Bjørn: [looking at the clock] It is a long time since we saw each other.
Nina: [ferociously] It is fine weather. His father?
Bjørn: He is a young boy.
Nina: He is too young. He is sick.
[Nina exits]
Bjørn: I am sorry to hear that your sister is ill.
Karen: [looking at the clock] I am quite sure, that such a view is right!
Bjørn: Well, that is right! What time is it?
Karen: [disbelievingly] The darkness of the death.
Bjørn: The flesh of the hog is called pork. The flesh of the calf is called veal, that of the ox and the cow, beef. There will be one eclipse of the sun and two of the moon this year.
[Dominik enters]
Karen: At last the friends moved or died away, and the place became quieter as the Devil only called now and then trying to make friends with the new lodgers. What is the fare for the passage from Kiel to Korsoer?
Bjørn: He might be the father of the girl.
Karen: He has not the least trouble in this world.
Bjørn: She went to the country yesterday.
Karen: [eating some ham] Of what size the island is? And I am heartily sick of what the world considers the lap of fortune.
Bjørn: Into the country.
Karen: At three o'clock.
Dominik: Not for all the world.
Karen: You know this is the main island. Do you think living is expensive in Denmark? [pause] We intend to stay for some months at the sea-side in Denmark.
A peaceful alleyway. The sky is clear. Leaves blow across the stage. A fire burns. Carla and Isabella approach each other.
Carla: It is the tailor.
Isabella: It is rather dear. It is the third.
Carla: It is very good for the health. It is pretty good in this season.
Isabella: It was very foggy, as is usual during this month.
Carla: Very easily, and without injuring the mounting. Go to the left.
Isabella: Look not a gift horse in the mouth.
Carla: [fancifully] I, who have not a friend in the world!
Isabella: You have not kept the fire up.
Carla: You have let the fire go down.
Isabella: [staring into the fire] I have the first move. I have a whole quire.
[Dominik enters]
Carla: Show me the best you have.
[Jan enters]
Dominik: The sun begins to acquire more force.
Carla: The weather begins to clear up. That of the rose pleases me pretty well.
Jan: I fear the wind is against us in the Channel.
Carla: Your queen is not in its proper place.
Jan: It is not in my power. Then we must drive to the Museum.
Isabella: [adding some twigs to the fire] If I were in your place.
Jan: Take your places Gentlemen. Get in if you please, Gentlemen.
Isabella: When will the races take place—in the morning or in the evening?
Jan: [adding a log to the fire] I dine with a friend today.
Isabella: Have you dinners at fixed price? We will dine at fixed price.